The U.S. economy created 271,000 jobs in October

The American economy gained 271,000 jobs in October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday. It also revised estimates from August and September upwards by a total of 12,000. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate remained effectively unchanged at 5 percent.

In other good signs, the labor force participation rate stayed at 62.4 percent and wages grew 2.5 percent from a year ago. That's noticeably higher than the recent trend, but we'll need another month or two to know if this is a real liftoff.

Overall, job gains averaged 187,000 during the last three months. But it will take at least 246,000 a month to close the hole left by the Great Recession by the summer of 2017.

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