US Dept of Labour delivers 'solid' job report following stunning midterm defeat for Republicans

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States unemployment rate dipped to 4.1 per cent as American employers created 165,000 new jobs last month.

Further, a combined 84,000 new jobs were added to the August and September totals following revisions by the Department of Labour.

The disclosures were included in the latest jobs report from the Labour Department.

It comes three days after voters delivered a stunning defeat to President Donald Trump and his Republican Party in the US midterm elections.

Americans handed full control of Congress to the Democratic Party amid frustrated with the state of the economy and high cost of living.

But experts say hiring was far stronger than the 65,000 new jobs economists had projected.

The latest jobs report revealed, too, that average hourly wages rose 0.4 per cent in October when compared with the previous month for the biggest month-over-month gain since January.

“This was a blowout jobs report,” said Angelo Kourkafas, senior global strategist at Edward Jones.

“Payroll growth exceeded expectations, revisions were positive, the unemployment rate fell, participation improved and wage growth strengthened,” he said.

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