The U.S. economy added far more jobs in October than expected

NPR | By Scott Horsley,

A Martínez

Published November 6, 2026 at 3:46 AM CST

Employers added 165,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, blowing past economists' expected gains of around 59,000 jobs.

Scott Horsley

Scott Horsley is NPR's Chief Economics Correspondent.

A Martínez

A Martínez is one of the hosts of Morning Edition and Up First.