The US unemployment rate at 4.4% was the lowest in over five years during October, as 92,000 more jobs were added and hiring in previous months was revised up, a government report showed.
The October new-jobs figure was below Wall Street economists' expectations for 125,000, but the Labor Department said 139,000 more jobs were created in August and September than it had previously thought.
The unemployment rate fell in October to 4.4% from 4.6% in September. It was the lowest unemployment rate since 4.3% in May 2001 and was likely to fan concerns that labour markets are growing tight and could contribute to inflation pressures.
Average hourly earnings rose 0.4% to $16.91 - higher than the 0.3% anticipated. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 3.9%, the department said.
Most of the new hiring in October was in service industries, where 152,000 new jobs were created, while goods-producing industries shed 60,000 jobs.
