The October employment report has so many distortions in it from a labor strike and two hurricanes that it just isn’t telling us much.
The report comes from two different surveys, and this month’s establishment survey showed a huge downward miss, posting a gain of only 12,000 jobs created versus expectations of 100,000. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which creates the report, said that the Boeing strike reduced the number of jobs created by 44,000.