Workers pour concrete to create part of a bus stop in the Manhattan borough of New York City on Thursday, October 12, 2023. On Friday, the U.S. government issues the October jobs report. File - An assembly line worker uncrates an LG battery at the General Motors Orion Assembly, Thursday, June 15, 2023, in Lake Orion, Mich. On Friday, the U.S. government issues the October jobs report. File - Math teacher Margie Howells teaches a fifth grade class at Wheeling Country Day School in Wheeling, W.Va.
“It’s still a very strong labor market,’’ said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. “The Federal Reserve would like to see something a little less strong ... We’re moving in that direction.’’ Yet inflation remains well above the Fed’s 2% target, and workers’ year-over-year pay gains, Vanden Houten said, would need to fall to 3.5% to be consistent with the central bank’s inflation goal.