Getting survey information in after the hurricanes was harder than usual; however, it’s become increasingly difficult over the years.

Employers added just 12,000 jobs in October as hiring slowed substantially. The total was expected to be constrained by two Southeast hurricanes and several worker strikes, but the tally was far lower than what was estimated and job gains for previous months were revised sharply downward, raising concerns about a weakening labor market.

A jobs report skewed by hurricanes and a strike at Boeing landed on voters’ radar with less than a week until Election Day, scrambling the picture of the U.S. economy as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump prepare to face off against each other after one of the most bitter presidential campaigns in recent memory.

Storms and strikes are complicating the true picture of the labor market, economists say. Nonetheless, there’s still evidence of a gradual cooling.

Nonfarm payroll increased by a meager 12,000 in October, well off what was forecasted by Wall Street but the numbers come with some important caveats, the Labor Department said in its report on Friday.

Yes, it was a noisy October jobs report thanks to a pair of hurricanes and strikes, but that doesn't fully account for a disappointing reading, said Samuel Tombs, chief U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics,

Between back-to-back hurricanes and tens of thousands of Boeing workers on strike, economists had low expectations for the October jobs report released Friday. The data failed to meet even those diminished expectations by a wide margin,

Employers added just 12,000 jobs in October — far slower growth than expected — for the lowest job total since December 2020 as devastating hurricanes and a major strike by Boeing employees crushed jobs,