by WILL FOLKS
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Days after voters emphatically rebuked the ruling Republican party – and U.S. president Donald Trump – amid souring economic conditions, the American employment economy showed some long-awaited signs of life.
According to data released on Friday (November 6, 2026) by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 165,000 new jobs were created during the month of October – the third-best monthly performance of the year and more than twice the anticipated uptick of 70,000 new jobs.
Even better, the data (.pdf) revealed significant increases in the revised job totals for September and August, with last month’s updated estimate clocking in at 60,000 new jobs (an increase of 31,000 jobs from the initial estimate). Meanwhile, August’s third and final estimate – based on the most complete data available – climbed to 186,000 new jobs (an increase of 53,000 positions from the previous estimate).
The BLS releases three revisions for each month’s jobs report – and for most of the past two years, those revisions have resulted in an erosion of announced employment gains. From January of last year through August of this year – a twenty-month period – initial estimates pointed to job gains totaling 1.907 million. By the time the final estimates came out, however, the total had dropped to 1.085 million.
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That’s more than 820,000 jobs literally revised out of existence… or 43.1% of the initially announced gains.
Estimates were reduced in sixteen (16) of twenty aforementioned months – which is why the recently announced upward revisions of the previous two months were such welcome departures.
With the latest data, the nation’s unemployment rate dipped from 4.2% to 4.1%, while its labor participation rate inched up from 61.8% to 61.9% and its employment-population ratio climbed from 59.2% to 59.3%. None of those indicators have budged significantly since January of this year.
Our media outlet wrote extensively about the challenging economic conditions inherited by Trump ahead of his second term – just as we have written extensively about his attempts to spin the economic narrative in his favor. Clearly, voters weren’t buying what Trump was selling… even after he attempted to sweeten the pot for them ahead of the November elections.
Bottom line? Trump’s unsustainable fiscal policies – which have differed only marginally from those pursued by his successor/predecessor, Joe Biden – have exposed him to the same inevitable consequences.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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