The final pre-election jobs report is out today and the numbers are not good. As always, the numbers are judged relative to the expectations set by market analysts. The expectations for today’s report said there would be around 112,000 jobs added, far lower than September.
As of Thursday morning, FactSet consensus estimates were for a net gain of 112,500 jobs in October. That would mark a sharp drop-off from the surprisingly strong preliminary estimate of 254,000 jobs added in September.
That turned out to be a huge overestimate. The actual jobs added last month came out to just 12,000. The NY Times reported this as a gift to Republicans.
For weeks, the economic news has been at odds with the surly mood of voters and the apocalyptic predictions of impending collapse by former President Donald J. Trump, but in Friday’s weak jobs report, the Republicans…
