The unemployment rate improved to 6.9% in October, beating estimates for a flat 7.1% reading…

… thanks to 85K part-time adds, almost entirely offsetting category weakness in the prior two months and carrying a ~20K decline in full-time jobs.

Results were mixed at the industry level, with weakness in construction more than offset by strength in retail trade, transportation & warehousing, and manufacturing…

… which we highlighted as likely following the Ivey PMI print. A manufacturing recovery likely contributed to the second up month in workforce participation…

… which helped reduce the share of long-term unemployment to ~21%, still elevated - but improving from highs seen earlier in the year.

While there’s still a long way to go given the limited number of open jobs, the last two prints have shown improvement… a few more could bring back confidence in the labour market.

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