BLS: October Payrolls Rose 165,000, Jobless Rate at 4.1%

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 165,000 in October, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.1 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Employment Situation release of Nov. 6. The release said employment increased in professional and business services, in health care, and in transportation and warehousing.

The BLS said the October gain was higher than the average monthly gain of 48,000 over the prior 12 months. Professional and business services added 70,000 jobs, well above its 12-month average monthly gain of 15,000, according to the release. Health care added 42,000 against an average of 31,000. Transportation and warehousing added 25,000, and manufacturing employment continued to trend up, by 19,000.

The household survey showed an unemployment rate of 4.1 percent and 7.1 million unemployed people, both of which the BLS described as little changed in October. The release said the rate has remained in a narrow range of 4.1 percent to 4.3 percent since March. Jobless rates for adult men and adult women were 3.9 percent and 3.6 percent, and the teenage rate was 13.9 percent.

The labor force participation rate was 61.9 percent and the employment-population ratio was 59.3 percent. The number of people employed part time for economic reasons increased by 339,000 to 4.8 million, the BLS said. Long-term unemployed workers, those jobless for 27 weeks or more, numbered 2.0 million and accounted for 27.6 percent of all unemployed people.

The CFTC's Commitments of Traders report is published weekly and shows futures positions held by groups of large traders as of Tuesday, usually released the following Friday. The positions below are as of Nov. 3, before the BLS release, and were held before it.

In US Dollar Index futures, large speculators were net long 14,190 contracts, up 69 from a net long of 14,121 the previous week. The 3-year COT index, which places the latest net position within its range over the past 3 years, with 0 the lowest and 100 the highest, stood at 79 for the dollar index. The 3-year high was a net long of 22,499 contracts on Aug. 4, 2026, and the low was a net short of 16,347 on Nov. 25, 2025.

Large speculators in 10-year Treasury note futures were net short 962,359 contracts, against a net short of 981,538 a week earlier, a change of 19,179 contracts. The COT index was 22. Open interest was 5,947,433 contracts.

Managed money in gold futures was net long 103,614 contracts, down 1,948 from 105,562. The gold COT index was 38, with a 3-year high of 219,029 contracts on Sept. 24, 2024 and a low of 34,176 on Feb. 13, 2024.

Gold (XAU/USD) was at 4,066.03 as of 12:03 UTC on Nov. 7.