US jobs report, October 2026: payrolls rise 165,000, unemployment 4.1%

US nonfarm payrolls rose by 165,000 in October and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.1%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday 6 November 2026. Average hourly earnings rose 0.4% on the month to $38.00, and were 3.1% higher than a year earlier.

What changed

October’s gain was above the average monthly increase of 48,000 over the prior 12 months. The bureau named three industries behind it. Professional and business services added 70,000 jobs, against a 12-month average of 15,000. Health care added 42,000, against an average of 31,000, and transportation and warehousing added 25,000. Manufacturing continued to trend up, with a gain of 19,000. Employment changed little in the other major industries, including construction, retail trade, financial activities, leisure and hospitality, and government.

The two previous months were revised higher. August went from +133,000 to +186,000 and September from +29,000 to +60,000, which leaves employment in those months 84,000 above what was first reported.

In the household survey, the unemployment rate was 4.1%, compared with 4.2% in September, and about 7.1 million people were unemployed. The bureau said the rate has stayed between 4.1% and 4.3% since March. The participation rate was 61.9% and the employment-population ratio 59.3%, both little changed. The number of people working part time for economic reasons rose by 339,000 to 4.8 million.

Average hourly earnings for private-sector employees rose by 14 cents. The average workweek stayed at 34.4 hours.

What it means for traders

The employment report is the main official monthly reading of the US labor market, and employment is one half of the Federal Reserve’s mandate. That is why the figures feed into expectations for short-term interest rates, and through them into Treasury yields, the interest-rate differentials between the dollar and other currencies, and gold’s opportunity cost, since gold pays no interest.

Revisions are part of the reading: this release raised the picture for the previous two months as well as reporting a new one. Our page on the Fed’s October decision gives the central bank’s most recent statement.

For how rate differentials reach a currency position, see our guide to swap rates and overnight financing. The report comes out at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, and our guide to FX trading sessions and liquidity and the market hours tool show which markets are open at that hour.

What’s next

The BLS has scheduled the employment report for November for Friday 4 December 2026 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.