Associated Press Hurricanes Jump-Start Hiring in October
Friday November 5, 8:46 am ET By Leigh Strope, AP Labor Writer
Cleanup Efforts From Hurricanes Help Jump-Start Hiring With October Payrolls Expanding by 337,000
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Employers aggressively hired new workers in October, adding 337,000 people to payrolls after a sluggish summer, although the overall unemployment rate rose marginally, to 5.5 percent.
The 0.1 percent rise in the seasonally adjusted civilian rate happened largely because the new hiring was to some degree offset by increasing numbers of people who came into the labor market in search of work.
Nevertheless, the expansion in payrolls last month was nearly double what economists had forecast, the Labor Department reported Friday, saying that cleanup efforts from hurricanes that struck Florida and much of the Southeast helped jump-start the labor market.
The report on new hiring was good news for President Bush as he prepares for a second term. A generally weak job market plagued his campaign for re-election, offering a political target to his Democratic challenger, John Kerry.
Economists had expected October payrolls to grow by about 175,000 with the jobless rate holding steady at 5.4 percent. Employers have added about 2.2 million jobs since August 2003.
But the rate climbed to 5.5 percent as more people renewed their job searches, expanding the pool of available workers.
Hiring in construction helped spur last month's job growth, with employment in that sector rising by a net 71,000 jobs.
"Some of this unusually large gain reflected rebuilding and cleanup activity in the Southeast following the four hurricanes that struck the U.S. in August and September," said Kathleen Utgoff, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In the past year, construction employment has grown by about 16,000 per month.
New jobs in professional and business services also helped strengthen overall job growth last month, with hiring expanding by 97,000. Temporary employment services were responsible for about half of that, giving ammunition to Bush critics who argue that much of the recent job growth is occurring in lower-paying work that typically doesn't offer heath insurance and other benefits.
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