US job growth picks up in Oct

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US job growth accelerated in October after hurricane-related disruptions in the prior month, but wages grew at their slowest annual pace in more than 1-1/2 years in a sign that inflation probably will remain benign.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 261,000 last month as 106,000 leisure and hospitality workers returned to work, the Labor Department said in its closely watched employment report on Friday. That was the largest gain since July 2016 but below economists’ expectations for a jump of 310,000 jobs.

Data for September was revised to show a gain of 18,000 jobs instead of a decline of 33,000 as previously reported.

The White House, which is pushing a Republican-backed package of tax cuts to boost economic growth and employment, trumpeted the payrolls gains. “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!” President Donald Trump tweeted after the release of the report.

But Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the US House of Representatives, said in a statement that the report showed Americans were continuing to be denied bigger paychecks by Republicans’ “billionaires-first agenda.”

Average hourly earnings slipped one cent in October, leaving them unchanged in percentage terms, in part due to the return of the lower-paid leisure and hospitality workers. Wages shot up 0.5 percent in September. They were up 2.4 percent on a year-on-year basis last month, the smallest gain since February 2016, after a 2.8 percent advance in the prior month.

October’s job growth acceleration reinforced the Federal Reserve’s assessment on Wednesday that “the labor market has continued to strengthen,” and the sluggish wage data did little to change expectations it will raise interest rates in December.

The US central bank has increased rates twice this year.

“The weakness in wages will not go unnoticed at the Fed, particularly for members that remained more concerned over the inflation outlook,” said Michael Hanson, chief US economist at TD Securities in New York. “Overall, sustained job growth and labor market slack at pre-crisis lows keeps December in play.”

Tepid wage growth supports the view that inflation will continue to undershoot the Fed’s two percent target. Should wage growth remain sluggish, economists say it would be hard for central bank policymakers to hike rates three times next year as they currently anticipate.