Job growth of the United States in October was far below previous expectations, and experts attributed it to disruptions of hurricanes and strikes by workers in the aerospace industry.
The U.S. Labor Department reported on Friday that nonfarm payrolls increased by 12,000 jobs in October, far below the previous forecast of 113,000 by some economists and also significantly lower than the monthly average level over the past year.
Manufacturing and retail trade employment declined by 46,000 and 64,000, respectively, while professional and technical jobs decreased by 47,000.
The sluggish job growth is attributed to hurricanes Helene and Milton that lashed across the southeastern United States in late September and early October, as well as the crippling strikes launched by U.S. workers, most at Boeing, according to experts.
After its Sept. 17-18 meeting, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) slashed the target range for the federal funds rate by 50 basis points to 4.75-5 percent, amid cooling inflation and a weakening labor market. This marked the first rate cut in over four years and signaled the start of an easing cycle.
The Fed will hold its next policy meeting from Wednesday to Thursday. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group's FedWatch Tool, which acts as a barometer for the market's expectation of the Fed funds target rate, showed that as of Friday morning, the probability of the Fed cutting rates by 25 basis points at the November meeting was over 99 percent.
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported on Friday that the U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) stood at 46.5 percent in October, down 0.7 percentage points from the 47.2-percent reading registered in September and hitting a new low of this year.
Any reading below 50 percent indicates the manufacturing sector is generally contracting. The number marks that in 23 of the past 24 months, the U.S. manufacturing sector contracted, showing a continuous weak demand.
Weak U.S. job growth in October attributed to hurricanes, strikes
Logistics personnel from supermarkets and e-commerce platforms like "Gongxiao Jiangnan" are working on a hectic schedule to meet people's surging demand for essential goods during the New Year holiday by meticulously arranging storage and delivery.
Gongxiao Jiangnan is an e-commerce platform selling fresh groceries under the Supply and Marketing Cooperative of east China's Jiangxi Province.
At 02:00 in the morning, the platform's central warehouse is still bustling. Delivery staff are working around the clock to sort through tens of thousands of orders placed by urban residents, sending rice, vegetables, and cooking oil to specific storage points for further distribution.
Chen Yunchao, a delivery man for the platform, has clearly sensed the surge in orders.
"There are so many orders these days that I have to work until 06:00 in the morning almost every day to send out all the parcels," said Chen.
To ensure steady supplies, nearly 90 percent of front-line employees of e-commerce platforms under the Supply and Marketing Cooperative of Jiangxi chose to stay on duty throughout the holiday and support the daily needs of residents in 200 communities in the province.
Large amount of orders requires the platform to quicken its steps in logistics.
"We are considering increasing our delivery frequency and will refill parcel lockers twice a day," said Chen Jun, director of the platform's Procurement Department.
Back-end algorithms are also supporting the logistics during the holiday. In Jiangxi's provincial capital Nanchang, for instance, the demand for daily necessities increased by 30 percent compared with before. With the help of algorithms, an optimal amount of daily storage for each product can be accurately calculated to ensure smooth operations and reduce wastage. "Take Nanchang City as an example, we plan to deliver nearly a thousand tons of goods like grain and oil, fruits and vegetables, meat and aquatic products every day," said Zheng Zhenghao, director of the platform's Order Fulfillment Center.
E-commerce platforms ensure holiday supplies with logistics support
