by Calculated Risk on 11/02/2007 08:33:00 AM

From MarketWatch: October job growth strongest since May

Shaking off fears about weakness in housing and credit, the U.S. economy created 166,000 net jobs in October, the best job growth since May, the Labor Department reported Friday.
...
However, a separate survey of 60,000 households showed a loss of 250,000 workers, the third decline in the past four months. Economists say the payroll survey is more accurate, while acknowledging that it may not work as well when the economy is at a turning point.

Here is the BLS report. The unemployment rate was steady at 4.7%.

Click on graph for larger image.

Residential construction employment declined 21,500 in October, and including downward revisions to previous months, is down 221.9 thousand, or about 6.5%, from the peak in March 2006. (compare to housing starts off 30%+).

Note the scale doesn't start from zero: this is to better show the change in employment.

The initial benchmark revision shows the loss of an additional 8,000 construction jobs, but the initial report doesn't breakout residential construction.

Overall this is a stronger than expected report.