The final economic indicator to be released before Tuesday's midterm elections dropped Friday morning showing the unemployment rate had ticked up to 3.7 percent in October — an increase of 0.2 percent, worse than expected — despite a better-than-expected headline number showing 261,000 new jobs.
🚨OCTOBER JOBS +261K UNEMPLOYMENT RATE UP TO 3.7%🚨
— Dagen McDowell (@dagenmcdowell) November 4, 2022
But the number of new jobs reported is the smallest of President Biden's time in office, following a downward trend line in job growth under his administration's leadership.
The last time job growth was any worse was December 2020 when there was a contraction, noted CNBC.
Today's Jobs Report basically in line...but also the lowest level of jobs since Biden took office...trending downward. pic.twitter.com/5aCuszFSeX
— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) November 4, 2022
The monthly jobs report is comprised of two different surveys conducted by the government — the establishment survey and the household survey — and two showed significant divergence in October's read.
According to the establishment survey, 261,000 jobs were added last month, but the household survey found that the number of unemployed persons increased by 306,000 in October.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the labor force participation rate of 62.2 percent in October, a decrease of 22,000 Americans from September's report that showed more than 50,000 Americans walking away from the workforce.
Jobs Report
— Charles V Payne (@cvpayne) November 4, 2022
forget about the consensus number the trend of the jobs report is steady decline but more worrisome is participation which continues to drop. That normally artificially gooses the U3 unemployment number higher but U3 climbed to 3.7% from 3.5%. pic.twitter.com/X0q0MNTNo9
In October, the government reported wage growth of 0.4 percent month-over-month for a 12 month-ending increase of 4.7 percent. But, yet again, the latest Consumer Price Index showed inflation increasing 0.4 percent in September (October's read will be released after the midterms) and advancing 8.2 percent over the previous year.
That means that Americans are still seeing an average 3.5 percent cut to their real wages in the last 12 months under President Biden's "build back better" policies.
Today’s jobs report shows the Great American Pay Cut keeps hitting workers as inflation wipes out wage growth.
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) November 4, 2022
That’s why 75% of Americans say they feel like the economy is in a recession.
As Townhall reported earlier this week, the Federal Reserve increased its target rate another 75 basis points to 4 percent, the highest level since 2008 as warnings from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell that Americans will face more "pain" as a result of the central banking system's attempts to tamp down inflation that resulted from President Biden and congressional Democrats' tax-and-spend agenda.