Transmission of material in this statement is embargoed until 

8:30 a.m. (ET) November 6, 2020. 

Statement of 

William W. Beach 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, November 6, 2020 

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 638,000 in 

October, and the unemployment rate fell to 6.9 percent. These 

improvements reflect the continued resumption of economic 

activity that had been curtailed due to the coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic and efforts to contain it. 

In October, private nonfarm employment rose by 906,000. 

Employment rose in several private-sector industries, with the 

largest gains in leisure and hospitality, professional and 

business services, retail trade, and construction. By contrast, 

employment in government declined by 268,000. 

Total nonfarm payroll employment has increased for 6 

consecutive months but is down by 10.1 million (or 6.6 percent) 

since February, before the onset of the pandemic in the United 

States. 

Although unemployment fell for the sixth month in a row in 

October, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed 
2

people are up by 3.4 percentage points and 5.3 million, 

respectively, since February. 

The response rate for the establishment survey was above 

average for October. The rate for the household survey, while 

slightly below normal due to pandemic-related issues, was much 

higher than earlier in the pandemic. The impact of the pandemic 

on the household and establishment surveys is detailed in the 

October Employment Situation news release and accompanying 

materials (see 

www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_11062020.htm). For both 

surveys, we were able to obtain estimates that meet BLS 

standards for accuracy and reliability. 

Taking a closer look at the October payroll data, 

employment in leisure and hospitality grew by 271,000, 

accounting for about two-fifths of the over-the-month growth in 

total nonfarm employment. While leisure and hospitality has 

added 4.8 million jobs since April, employment is 3.5 million 

lower than in February. Within the industry, employment rose 

over the month in food services and drinking places (+192,000); 

arts, entertainment, and recreation (+44,000); and accommodation 

(+34,000). 

Employment in professional and business services increased 

by 208,000 in October, with about half of the gain occurring in 

temporary help services (+109,000). Other notable job gains 
3

occurred in services to buildings and dwellings (+19,000), 

computer systems design (+16,000), management and technical 

consulting (+15,000), and investigation and security services 

(+12,000). Overall, employment in professional and business 

services is 1.1 million below its February level. 

In October, retail trade added 104,000 jobs. Within the 

industry, job gains occurred in electronics and appliance stores 

(+31,000), motor vehicle and parts dealers (+23,000), furniture 

and home furnishings stores (+14,000), clothing and accessories 

stores (+13,000), general merchandise stores (+10,000), and 

nonstore retailers (+9,000). Since February, retail trade 

employment is down by 499,000. 

Construction employment increased by 84,000 in October, but 

is down by 294,000 since February. About half of the October 

gain occurred in specialty trade contractors, with increases in 

both the nonresidential (+28,000) and residential (+18,000) 

components. Elsewhere in the industry, heavy and civil 

engineering construction (+19,000) and construction of buildings 

(+19,000) also added jobs. 

In October, employment increased by 79,000 in health care 

and social assistance. Health care employment increased by 

58,000, with the largest gains in hospitals (+16,000), offices 

of physicians (+14,000), offices of dentists (+11,000), and 

outpatient care centers (+10,000). Nursing and residential care 
4

facilities lost 9,000 jobs over the month, and employment has 

declined by 238,000 since February. Social assistance added 

21,000 jobs over the month. 

In October, employment in transportation and warehousing 

rose by 63,000, with the largest gains occurring in warehousing 

and storage (+28,000), transit and ground passenger 

transportation (+25,000), and truck transportation (+10,000). 

These gains were partially offset by job losses in air 

transportation (-18,000). Overall, employment in transportation 

and warehousing is down by 271,000 since February. 

Employment in other services increased by 47,000 in 

October, with gains in personal and laundry services (+27,000) 

and repair and maintenance (+18,000). Since February, employment 

in other services is down by 436,000. 

Manufacturing added 38,000 jobs in October, with gains 

about evenly split between durable goods (+21,000) and 

nondurable goods (+17,000). Manufacturing employment is down by 

621,000 since February. 

Employment in financial activities increased by 31,000 in 

October. Over the month, job gains occurred in finance and 

insurance (+17,000) and in real estate (+10,000). Since 

February, financial activities employment is down by 129,000. 

In October, employment in government declined by 268,000. 

Federal government employment was down by 138,000, reflecting a 
5

loss of 147,000 temporary workers who had been hired for the 

2020 Census. State and local government each lost 65,000 jobs, 

driven by employment declines in their education components. 

Employment in other major industries--including mining, 

wholesale trade, and information--showed little change over the 

month. 

Average weekly hours for all private-sector workers were 

unchanged in October at 34.8 hours. The average workweek for 

manufacturing rose by 0.3 hour in October to 40.5 hours. One 

should continue to be cautious when interpreting changes in the 

workweek at the total private level. In particular, large 

employment changes in industries with shorter- or longer-thanaverage workweeks can complicate monthly comparisons of average 

weekly hours. 

Similarly, changes in average earnings in recent months 

must be interpreted with caution. Average hourly earnings of all 

employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 4 cents in 

October to $29.50. 

Turning to the labor market indicators from the household 

survey, the unemployment rate declined by 1.0 percentage point 

to 6.9 percent in October, and the number of unemployed people 

fell by 1.5 million to 11.1 million. Both measures have 

decreased for 6 consecutive months but are nearly twice their 

February levels. 
6

The unemployment decrease in October was driven by a 

decline of 1.4 million among people on temporary layoff. The 

number of permanent job losers was about unchanged at 3.7 

million in October but is up by 2.4 million since February. 

Unemployment rates fell in October for adult men (6.7 

percent), adult women (6.5 percent), teenagers (13.9 percent), 

Whites (6.0 percent), Blacks (10.8 percent), Asians (7.6 

percent), and Hispanics (8.8 percent). 

Among the unemployed, the number of people searching for 

work for 27 weeks or more (often referred to as the long-term 

unemployed) rose by 1.2 million in October to 3.6 million. The 

number of people who were jobless 15 to 26 weeks fell by 2.3 

million to 2.6 million. The number of people who were unemployed 

for 5 to 14 weeks declined by 457,000 to 2.3 million. The number 

of people searching for work for less than 5 weeks was 2.5 

million, little changed over the month. 

The labor force participation rate increased by 0.3 

percentage point to 61.7 percent in October but is 1.7 

percentage points lower than in February. The employmentpopulation ratio increased by 0.8 percentage point to 57.4 

percent in October; the rate is 3.7 percentage points lower than 

in February. 
7

In October, the number of people who usually work full time 

increased by 1.2 million to 123.6 million, and the number who 

usually work part time increased by 1.0 million to 26.2 million. 

In October, the number of people at work part time for 

economic reasons increased by 383,000 to 6.7 million, reflecting 

an increase in the number of people whose hours were cut due to 

slack work or business conditions. (This group includes people 

who usually work full time and people who usually work part 

time.) The October increase in the number of people at work part 

time for economic reasons follows declines totaling 4.6 million 

over the prior 5 months. The number of workers affected by this 

type of underemployment was 2.4 million higher than its February 

level. 

The number of people not in the labor force who currently 

want a job decreased by 539,000 in October to 6.7 million. This 

measure is 1.7 million higher than in February. 

Among those who were not in the labor force but wanted a 

job, 2.0 million were considered marginally attached to the 

labor force in October, about unchanged over the month. (People 

who are marginally attached to the labor force had not actively 

looked for work in the 4 weeks prior to the survey but wanted a 

job, were available for work, and had looked for a job within 

the last 12 months.) The number of discouraged workers, a subset 

of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were 
8

available for them, at 588,000 in October, was essentially 

unchanged over the month. 

As has been the case since March, household survey 

interviewers were instructed in October to classify employed 

people absent from work due to temporary, coronavirus-related 

business closures or cutbacks as unemployed on temporary layoff. 

BLS and Census Bureau analyses of the underlying data 

suggest that there still may be some workers affected by the 

pandemic who should have been classified as unemployed on 

temporary layoff. However, the share of responses that may have 

been misclassified was considerably smaller in recent months. 

For March through September, BLS published an estimate of 

what the unemployment rate would have been had misclassified 

workers been included among the unemployed. Repeating this same 

approach, the overall October unemployment rate would have been 

0.3 percentage point higher than reported. However, this 

represents the upper bound of our estimate of misclassification 

and probably overstates the size of the misclassification error. 

Additional information is available online at 

www.bls.gov/covid19/employment-situation-covid19-faq-october2020.htm. 

Looking at the supplemental pandemic-related measures from 

the household survey (these supplemental data are not seasonally 

adjusted), 21.2 percent of employed people teleworked in October 
9

because of the coronavirus pandemic, down from 22.7 percent in 

September. These data refer to employed people who teleworked or 

worked at home for pay at some point in the last 4 weeks 

specifically because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

In October, 15.1 million people reported that they had been 

unable to work because their employer closed or lost business 

due to the pandemic--that is, they did not work at all or worked 

fewer hours at some point in the last 4 weeks due to the 

pandemic. This is down from 19.4 million people in September. 

Among those who reported in October that they were unable to 

work because of pandemic-related closures or lost business, 11.7 

percent received at least some pay from their employer for the 

hours not worked, up from 10.3 percent in September. 

About 3.6 million people not in the labor force in October 

were prevented from looking for work due to the pandemic. This 

is down from 4.5 million people in September. (To be counted as 

unemployed, by definition, individuals must either be actively 

looking for work or on temporary layoff.) 

In summary, total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 

638,000 in October, and the unemployment rate fell to 6.9 

percent.