Just days after Republicans suffered a world-class shellacking at the ballot box, along comes the U.S. economy with a major surprise by blowing past economists' expectations with a whopping 165,000 jobs added in October.
According to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which was released Friday morning, U.S. employers added more than twice the 65,000 jobs economists had been predicting, and the unemployment rate showed a modest drop from 4.2 percent to 4.1 percent.
“HUGE NUMBERS!” ✅ 165,000 JOBS. ✅ MANUFACTURING JOBS GREW BY 19,000. ✅ 4.1% UNEMPLOYMENT RATE. WATCH ⬇️ https://t.co/SqWtr3ZZ7C
— U.S. Department of Labor (@USDOL) November 6, 2026
The biggest growth was found in professional and business services, which added 70,000 jobs, followed by healthcare with 42,000 and transportation and warehousing with 25,000. Manufacturing showed a gain of 19,000 jobs.
And if you dig into the numbers a bit, there's even more good news to be found.
The BLS went back and revised its August and September numbers, reporting that the economy actually added 84,000 more jobs during those months than it had originally calculated, which is yet another sign that the job market is stronger than previously reported.
In another encouraging sign that things are improving for American workers, wages also increased, with average hourly earnings rising 0.4 percent in October and 3.1 percent over the past year.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett hit the airwaves Friday morning to celebrate the new numbers, calling it "really one of the better jobs weeks that I've ever seen."
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett: "We have a jobs report that was way more than double expectation, and the upward revisions were ginormous... What we've got is a job market that's hitting on all cylinders." 🚀 https://t.co/gIcNYwZWna
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 6, 2026
Hassett pointed specifically to the decrease in unemployment claims, the abundance of job openings, and an increase in workers voluntarily quitting their jobs, which he said indicates that Americans are confident they can find better employment elsewhere.
"And now we have a jobs report that was way more than double expectation, and the upward revisions were ginormous for the last couple of months," Hassett said.
"What we've got is a job market that's hitting on all cylinders," he added.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and bold policies, America’s economy is back on track.
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