Jobs report: US economy added 171,000 jobs in October

The US Non-Farm Payrolls report came out this morning with a boom.

The US Labor Department said 171,000 new jobs were added to the economy last month, soundly beating analyst expecations.

While there were more jobs added to the economy, unemployment still rose, according to the Labor Department.

More people resumed their search for a job, which meant they were then added to the labor statistics. As a result October's unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent, after falling to 7.8 percent in September.

This is the last jobs report to come out before the presidential election Tuesday. Both candidates will attempt to capitalize on the news, of course, as Reuters duly noted. 

Reuters also added that Romney — who has made jobs and the US economy the center of his campaign — is likely to note that even sustained gains of 171,000 jobs per month makes for an extremely slow recovery.

The jobless rate in the US remains 3 percentage points above its pre-recession level.

An estimated 12.3 million people remain unemployed. Of those 12.3 million, 40.6 percent have been out of work for more than six months. 

In the release, the Labor Department noted that Hurricane Sandy had no discernable effect on the employment and unemployment data for October as the 
survey data was completed before the storm, "and establishment survey data collection rates were within normal ranges."