US jobs data smashes forecasts despite government shutdown

US non-farm payroll numbers came in at almost double analysts' estimates in October, despite the 16-day government shutdown.

During the month, 204,000 workers were newly employed, almost double the average 120,000 forecast by economists polled by Bloomberg. The new figures are a substantial increase from the 148,000 jobs posted in September and bring the six-month average up to around 173,000. While the number of jobs shot up, the unemployment rate also rose slightly from 7.2% the previous month to 7.3%. However, this increase is a widely expected after-effect of the government shutdown, where some of the workers that were temporarily unemployed were classified as permanently unemployed. The number wh...