Meg Waters is the editor in chief of Treasury & Risk. She is the former editor in chief of BPM Magazine and the former managing editor of Business Finance.
This is the slowest pace of hiring in the United States since 2020, but the unemployment rate remained low, as numbers were distorted by hurricanes and a major strike at Boeing.
Hurricanes and the Boeing strike likely drove payrolls lower in October, but the weak employment report keeps officials on track to reduce interest rates by a quarter point next week.
Boeing union workers, in their seventh week of a strike, are seeking higher wages along with the restoration of the company's pension plan, which has been frozen since 2014.
New research findings raise an important question for employers: Are your retirement plans truly supporting your employees, or are they costing them more than they should?