The following US economic statistics were announced today:

The Monster Employment Index rose 2 points in October to 156.

Factory orders rose 4.8% in September, but, like August, Aircraft orders are skewing the numbers. Ex-transportation capital goods orders actually fell -0.2%.

The BLS reports that a better-than-expected 171,000 net new jobs were created in October, and the unemployment rate rose to 7.9%. Both hourly earnings and weekly hours were unchanged. The labor force participation rate jumped 0.2 points to 63.8, as nearly 600,000 people came into the labor force, among which were a drop of 369,000 of those who are not on the labor force. The U-6 unemployment rate, the broadest measure of unemployment and under-employment, fell -0.1% to 14.6%. Overall, this is a status-quo report. There’s just enough employment growth to do keep up with the expansion of the labor force, but not enough to indicate any real improvement in the labor market, or economic growth in general.

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Dale Franks
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