US job growth accelerates
US job growth accelerated by more-than-expected in October as 166,000 new posts were created, the government said Friday in a sign that the economy is weathering housing and credit woes.
October's nonfarm payroll growth caught most Wall Street analysts off guard and was more than double what most economists had anticipated.
The national unemployment rate held steady at 4.7 percent, according to the Labor Department report.
Last month's job generation suggests employers are not retrenching in the face of a widespread housing downturn and a credit squeeze that is sweeping the banking industry.
September's job growth, one of the best indicators of economic momentum, was trimmed to a revised 96,000 posts from an original estimate that 110,000 jobs were created.
The lion's share of October job growth came from the service sector of the economy which added 190,000 jobs. The goods producing and manufacturing industries did not fare so well and shedded 24,000 and 21,000 jobs respectively.
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