U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in October, the Labor Department estimated Nov. 6, surpassing forecasters' expectations and extending previous months' trend of sharp swings in hiring.

Past months' payroll

gains were revised up, reflecting a stronger demand for workers than previously estimated. The department now reports U.S. employers added 60,000 jobs in September, up from the initial estimate of 29,000, and that they added 186,000 jobs in August.

Worker pay also ticked up last month, but likely still not enough to outpace inflation. Average hourly earnings for employees on private, nonfarm payrolls, which is calculated as a mean, rose by 14 cents to $38.00 in October. Over the year, they were up 3.1%. In comparison, consumer prices rose 3.7% over the year in September.

Relative to past years, fewer people are joining the workforce. But the labor force participation rate inched up to 61.9% in October from 61.8% in September. In general, a smaller labor force means U.S. employers need to add fewer jobs to keep the unemployment rate steady. It ticked to 4.1% in October, down from 4.2% the month before.

That reading likely gives Federal Reserve officials, tasked with keeping unemployment low and prices steady, the green light to prioritize concerns about persistent inflation at their next meeting. As of Nov. 6, most forecasters believe that focus will motivate policymakers to raise their benchmark for short-term interest rates by a quarter-point in December, according to CME FedWatch.

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