Newsroom

November 06, 2015

Jobs up 271K in October, unemployment down to 5%

Non-farm payroll numbers went up by 271,000 in October and the unemployment rate fell to 5 percent despite the 313,000 workers joining the labor force, NAFCU reported in a Macro Data Flash report Friday.

NAFCU Chief Economist and Director of Research Curt Long analyzed Bureau of Labor Statistics data for the report and also found that average hourly wages increased by 9 cents to $25.20 per hour.

Long said Friday's report "is big, as we have been waiting for wages to grow as a sign that labor slack was truly diminishing. Year-over-year wage growth increased to 2.5%, which is better than in any month since July 2009."

Long added that the federal funds futures market reacted quickly and has now placed the odds of a December rate increase at close to 70 percent. The Federal Reserve has kept the federal funds rate target at a range of 0 to 0.25 percent since December 2008.