DHAKA: The big question ahead of Friday’s release of the October United States employment report: How much did the 16-day partial government shutdown affect hiring last month?

The shutdown may have caused the unemployment rate to spike and hiring to slow. If so, economists expect those trends will be mostly reversed in November.

‘The government shutdown has created a lot of noise and the numbers are going to be sloppy,’ said Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors, reports The Straits Times.

Economists forecast that employers added 122,000 jobs in October, according to a survey by FactSet.

That’s sharply lower than the 148,000 added in September. And it would be well below the average job gain of about 180,000 in the first nine months of this year.

The unemployment rate is projected to rise to 7.3 percent from 7.2 percent, the first rise since May. Some economists fear the shutdown could cause unemployment to jump to 7.6 percent.

BDST: 2013 HRS, NOV 08, 2013
RoR/JCK