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Friday's jobs reading is forecast to show a rebound, but storms are still a factor. Friday's October jobs report may help answer the difficult question of how much longer a hurricane hangover will hurt the labor market. The economy lost 35,000 jobs in September, the first loss in more than two years. And the unemployment rate increased to 5.1 percent from 4.9 percent in August, before Hurricane Katrina hit. The Labor Department also said last week that more than 500,000 people lost their jobs as a direct result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. For October, economists surveyed by Briefing.com are forecasting that payrolls rose by 100,000, and that the unemployment rate held steady. . |
