The US economy added 128,000 jobs in October. The unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.6%.
The United States lost 36,000 manufacturing jobs last month, impacted primarily by the GM strike.
Overall, the October report was stronger than expected, beating economists' far more dour forecasts. The 40-day GM strike, which took some 50,000 autoworkers out of the workforce, was expected to serve as a bigger drag on the employment market.
The unemployment rate ticked up from 3.5% in September, but it remains near a 50-year low.
Although the report was strong, hiring has slowed down in 2019 compared with 2018, averaging just 167,000 jobs per month versus 223,000 last year.
Stocks didn't react much to the jobs report. Dow futures were up about 30 points.
