Unemployment rate falls to 4.1% in October, lowest in nearly 17 years

Washington

THE US unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in nearly 17 years in October while job creation resumed climbing after the two late-summer hurricanes, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The jobless rate fell to 4.1 per cent, down a tenth of a point from September, the lowest the US economy has seen since December 2000. Employers added 261,000 net new positions as businesses reopened in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, although the rebound was much lower than economists had forecast.