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.