The US economy added 531,000 nonfarm jobs in October, more than analysts predicted, and revisions to the previous two months’ reports increased job creation statistics by nearly a quarter million jobs, according to the report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In additional signs of a strengthening economy, the unemployment rate fell to 4.6% and wages rose by 0.4% month-over-month.  In a year-over-year comparison, wages have risen 4.9% since October 2020.  Besides the top line number, the BLS report revises the August job creation number from up by 117,000, from +366,000 to +483,000, and the September number was increased by 118,000, from +194,000 to +312,000.

Since Joe Biden’s inauguration, the US economy has added 5.58 million jobs, more than double the number of jobs of any other first-year president since the end of World War II, and more than the total number of jobs created under the entire presidencies of Donald Trump (-2.96 million), George W. Bush (+1.26 million), George HW Bush (+2.64 million), Gerald Ford (+2.06 million), John F. Kennedy (+3.57 million) and Dwight D. Eisenhower (+3.54 million). 

Since the end of World War II, Democrats have held the White House for 439 months and had job creation of 69.8 million jobs, while the GOP has held the White House for 480 months, creating just 29.0 million jobs.

The October BLS report shows that job creation was spread across the board in all industry categories, with the leisure and hospitality category increasing by 164,000 jobs, and professional and business services increasing by 100,000.  Even mining increased by 5,000 in October, after the coal industry lost 10,000 jobs during the Trump years.