The Federal Reserve is likely to find support for more interest rate cuts from the weak October 2024 ... [ ] jobs report. Photo by Brooks Kraft/ Getty Images.
The October 2024 payrolls were the weakest since December 2020. With just 12,000 net new jobs added during the month, payrolls were virtually at a standstill. While some of the slowing could be due to recent hurricanes, it is unclear how much of an impact those storms had on the data. One thing is clear, however: The labor market has slowed, and there are risks the labor market could slow further. Federal Reserve members know this, and they are likely to cut interest rates at their meetings in November and December 2024.
The Employment Situation report, known to economists and analysts as the jobs report, was weak for October 2024. It showed monthly net payroll gains of only 12,000, which were accompanied by very large downward revisions to payrolls of 112,000 for the previous two months. At least the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1%, although that was only because the labor force participation rate fell in October to the lowest level since June 2024 as people left the labor force.
While some of the weakness in the October jobs report could be due to the aftermath of........