U.S. employers likely hired the fewest workers in five months in October, in what would be clearest indication yet that the end of fiscal stimulus and exploding new COVID-19 infections were sapping momentum from the economic recovery.
"The October jobs report is likely to show evidence of a weakening labor market," said Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington."This is an urgent problem facing whoever will be in the White House." More than US$3 trillion in government pandemic relief for businesses and workers fueled a historic 33.1per cent annualized rate of economic growth in the third quarter. That followed a record 31.4per cent pace of contraction in the April-June quarter.Lack of fiscal stimulus and spiraling new coronavirus infections across the country have put the economy on a sharply slower growth path heading into the fourth quarter.
Large corporations are also not immune. Exxon Mobil last month announced 1,900 layoffs in the United States. Boeing said it expected to eliminate about 30,000 jobs, 11,000 more than previously planned, by end-2021. Overall job growth in October was likely restrained by the departure of more temporary workers hired for the 2020 Census, and tight budgets at state and local governments.