A new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the unemployment rate has decreased to 5 percent, its lowest level since April 2008. A total of 271,000 jobs were added in the month of October, far above the 230,000 average over the past year. The uptick in job growth was spread across most industries. The biggest gains were seen in professional and business services, which added 78,000 jobs during the month. But progress was also made in the health care sector (45,000 new jobs), retail trade (44,000), food services and drinking places (42,000), and construction (31,000). The one main sector that lost jobs was mining (including oil and natural gas production), which lost 5,000 jobs, for a total of 109,000 jobs lost since December 2014.
