U.S. employers added a stellar 250,000 jobs last month and raised average pay by the most in nearly a decade – in a dose of good news for President Trump as he barnstorms the country to try to preserve unified Republican control of national power.
The Labor Department's monthly jobs report, the last major economic data before Tuesday's congressional elections, also showed that the unemployment rate remained at a five-decade low of 3.7 percent.
On a key metric that affects voters, average hourly earnings also increased. They rose by 0.2 percent from September, an annualized gain of 3.1 percent. And unemployment remained at a 48 year low.
The president jumped to hail the news, tweeting: 'Wow! The U.S. added 250,000 Jobs in October - and this was despite the hurricanes. Unemployment at 3.7%. Wages UP! These are incredible numbers. Keep it going, Vote Republican!'
Boom time: Donald Trump faces his first electoral test on Tuesday with the mid-term elections. He goes into them with rising wages and stable low unemployment, and an 18-year high in consumer confidence
It all spells good news for President Trump, who has been venting on the campaign trail that jarring events – such as a synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh that took 11 lives and a series of bomb mailings to prominent critics and Democrats – took him off his stride.
"Now, we did have two maniacs stop a momentum that was incredible. Because for 7 days, nobody talked about the elections. It stopped a tremendous momentum,' Trump said at a campaign rally Thursday night.
“More importantly, we have to take care of our people, and we don’t care about momentum when it comes to a disgrace like just happened to the country, but it did nevertheless stop a certain momentum,' the president added.
Unemployment remained at 3.7 percent – a 48 year low
The strong economic news comes as Trump has made his closing argument for the mid-term elections in large part about immigration – tweeting out a campaign ad that blamed Democrats for a convicted murderer, blasting an immigrant caravan headed towards the southern border, saying he'll build tent cities to house those who make it to the border, and says he'll change asylum policy and end 'birthright citizenship.'
Trump has rolled out a slogan that tries to talk up the job gains while also making ideological attacks on Democrats, calling the election a choice between 'jobs and mobs.'
Trump has been going on a tear on immigration this week, throwing out attacks on illegal aliens, blasting an immigrant caravan, and calling for changes to asylum and 'birthright citizenship'
The news comes as a Democratic 'blue wave' could the opposition party as many as 40 seats in the House of Representatives in next week's elections, a leading political analyst said Thursday.
The Cook Political Report said that it is predicting a gain of between 25 and 40 seats for the Democrats, giving the party's House leader Nancy Pelosi the potential to have a comfortable majority.
But it is not predicting a matching sweep in the Senate, where the 35 seats which are in play favor the Republicans so heavily that they could gain five of the seats, according to FiveThirtyEight.com.
The influx of new job-seekers in October increased the proportion of Americans with jobs to its highest level since January 2009.
Consumers are the most confident they have been in 18 years and are spending freely and propelling brisk economic growth. The U.S. economy is in its 10th year of expansion, the second-longest such period on record, and October marked the 100th straight month of hiring, a record streak.
The resulting strength in customer demand has led companies to steadily add workers. Though economists predict that hiring will eventually slow as the pool of unemployed Americans dwindles, there's no sign of that happening yet.
A strong October jobs report comes as President Donald Trump is campaigning for Republicans around the country
In October, consumer confidence reached its highest point in 18 years, propelled by optimism about the job market. Last month's plunge in stock prices didn't dampen Americans' enthusiasm, though the survey was conducted in the first half of October before the full market decline had occurred.
In the July-September quarter, consumer spending grew by the most in four years and helped the economy expand at a 3.5 percent annual rate. That growth followed a 4.2 percent annual pace in the April-June quarter. Combined, the two quarters produced the strongest six-month stretch of growth in four years.
Manufacturing output and hiring remain healthy, according to a survey by a private trade association, although increased tariffs have raised factory costs.
By contrast, housing remains a weak spot in the economy, with sales of existing homes having fallen for six straight months as mortgage rates have risen to nearly 5 percent. But slower sales have started to limit home price increases, which had been running at more than twice the pace of wage gains.
There are signs that pay growth is picking up. A measure of wage and salaries rose 3.1 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the best such showing in a decade.
Although pay increases can help boost spending and propel the economy's growth, they can also lead companies to raise prices to cover their higher labor costs. That trend, in turn, can accelerate inflation.
So far, though, inflation remains in check. The Federal Reserve's preferred price measure rose 2 percent in September compared with a year earlier, slightly lower than the year-over-year increase in August.
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