The US unemployment rate remained steady, despite the disappointing jobs pressed downwards by hurricanes and strikes.
Here’s reaction from Steven Rattner, who previously led President Obama’s auto industry task force. He’s also a Wall Streeter, economics analyst and columnist.
Despite the steep drop in the jobs added number for Oct, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%. pic.twitter.com/GNMnBGi3TI
— Steven Rattner (@SteveRattner) November 1, 2024
The US dollar has weakened after the shock drop in non-farm payrolls, with data released as part of the monthly jobs report half an hour ago.
The dollar is down by 0.3% against a trade-weighted basket of currencies after initially climbing earlier in the day. The British pound, for example, is now up 0.5% today against the greenback, while the European Union’s euro currency is up 0.1%.
There is a lot of incoming reaction from economics experts to the latest US jobs figures. We are covering reaction and analysis and you can follow a lot of the responses in our business live blog that’s being run out of our London headquarters. You can follow that here.
A Washington Post columnist noted that “The US economy has gained 16.1 million jobs since President Biden took office in January 2021.”
The US economy has gained 16.1 million jobs since President Biden took office in January 2021.
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) November 1, 2024
That’s 6.7 million more jobs than pre-pandemic.
Unemployment rate in Jan 2021: 6.4%
Unemployment rate now: 4.1%
Presidents don’t control the economy. But Biden’s stimulus and… pic.twitter.com/GcF4Z0tCOi
The US has added only 12,000 jobs in October in the final report before the presidential election.
The Guardian’s Michael Sainato reports:
The US added just 12,000 jobs in October, the last snapshot of the employment market before election day, in a report heavily impacted by the strike at Boeing and two recent hurricanes.
The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1%.
Temporary impacts from Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton and the ongoing strike by 33,000 Boeing workers in the Pacific north-west had been expected to reduce job growth numbers in October. Economists estimated 120,000 jobs would be added for the month and the unemployment rate would remain steady at 4.1%.
Job creation accelerated unexpectedly in September as the US added a revised 223,000 jobs, in the strongest month of jobs growth since March 2024. Until October the average number of jobs gained per month in 2024 has been about 200,000.
For the full story, click here:
With the election just days away, here’s a look at today’s schedules of the Harris-Walz and Trump-Vance campaigns, as reported by Politico:
Kamala Harris will speak at a union hall in Janesville, Wisconsin at 3:40pm ET. She will then attend a GOTV event in Little Chute at 7:05pm before heading to West Allis for a rally and concert at 10:20pm ET.
Tim Walz will participate in campaign events in Detroit, Michigan this afternoon. He will then hold rallies in Flint, Michigan at 3:25pm ET and then Traverse City at 6:45pm ET.
Donald Trump will rally in Warren, Michigan at 4:30pm ET and then Milwaukee AT 9pm ET. He may also be the first major 2024 presidential candidate to visit the Arab majority city of Dearborn, the Associated Press reports.
JD Vance will hold rallies in Portage, Michigan at 1pm ET and then Selma, North Carolina at 5pm ET.
Liz Cheney responds to Trump: 'This is how dictators destroy free nations'
On Thursday, Trump called former Rep Liz Cheney “a very dumb individual”, and said: “She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with the rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. OK, let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
Cheney has vocally opposed Trump since the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol and has become a surrogate for his Democratic opponent, vice-president Kamala Harris.
Liz Cheney responded to Donald Trump’s threatening comments on Friday morning, saying: “This is how dictators destroy free nations.”
“This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death,” Cheney wrote on X.
“We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant. #Womenwillnotbesilenced #VoteKamala”
This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant. #Womenwillnotbesilenced #VoteKamala https://t.co/URH5s929Sa
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) November 1, 2024
Updated
Harris and Trump to visit Milwaukee in final push for Wisconsin
Vice-president Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump will host dueling rallies within seven miles of each other on Friday night in the Milwaukee area as part of a final push for votes in swing-state Wisconsin’s largest county.
Milwaukee is home to the most Democratic votes in Wisconsin, but its conservative suburbs are where most Republicans live and are a critical area for Trump as he tries to reclaim the state he narrowly won in 2016 and lost in 2020. It was absentee votes from Milwaukee, which typically are reported early in the morning after Election Day, that tipped Wisconsin for President Joe Biden in 2020.
“Both candidates recognise that the road to the White House runs directly through Milwaukee County,” said Hilario Deleon, chair of the county’s Republican Party.
The dueling rallies – Trump is in downtown Milwaukee and Harris is in a suburb – may be the candidates’ last appearances in battleground Wisconsin before Election Day. Both sides say the race is once again razor tight for the state’s 10 electoral votes. Four of the past six presidential elections in Wisconsin have been decided by less than a point, or fewer than 23,000 votes.
Updated
Harris at 47% and Trump at 46%, latest election polling shows
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the US election. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are locked in a nail-bitingly close US presidential election race. Harris maintains a single point advantage over her Republican rival. As of 30 October, the latest polls put Harris at 47%, and Trump at 46%.
Read more from the Guardian’s poll tracker:
There are four days left until the election. Here are the key recent developments:
Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris campaigned in the western part of the US, namely the key swing states of Arizona and Nevada.
In her speech, Harris told Nevada: “Make no mistake: we will win.” Adding, “It is time for a new generation of leadership in America … And I am ready to offer that leadership.”
During her appearances, Harris repeatedly criticised Trump’s “very offensive” remarks about being the “protector” of women “whether they like it or not”.
Harris’s speech was followed by a performance by Jennifer Lopez in Las Vegas, as she seeks to connect with Latino voters in the final days of the race.
Trump, meanwhile, appeared with far-right media personality Tucker Carlson in Phoenix, Arizona.
Former president Donald Trump launched another attack on former Rep Liz Cheney late Thursday, calling the Republican former Wyoming congresswoman a “war hawk” and suggesting she might not be as willing to send troops to fight if she had guns pointed at her. Cheney has vocally opposed Trump since the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol and has become a surrogate for his Democratic opponent, vice-president Kamala Harris. After calling Cheney “a very dumb individual”, he said: “She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with the rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. OK, let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
More than 65 million people have cast their ballots in the race, as of 31 October at 11pm EST.
