November 2, 2024, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris 2024 presidential election news

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Former President Trump will press his rival Vice President Harris on the Biden-Harris administration's economic record following the release of a disappointing jobs report on Friday.

At a rally later this afternoon in Gastonia, North Carolina, Trump will blame “Hurricane Kamala” for job losses attributed to recent natural disasters, including Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

“Yesterday it was announced that our country lost nearly 30,000 private sector jobs last month alone and nearly 50,000 manufacturing jobs in a single month. They're trying to blame the hurricane for the jobs numbers – but it wasn't Hurricane Helene.” “It was Hurricane Kamala,” Trump will say, according to his prepared remarks.

“As part of their disastrous economic agenda, more than 100,000 manufacturing jobs have been eliminated since the start of this year. Last month, 150,000 Americans joined the unemployment rolls and nearly a quarter of a million people dropped out of the workforce.”

“This is DISQUALIFYING – we cannot endure this catastrophe for another four years.”

U.S. job growth slowed in October, falling well short of economists' expectations, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged.

The Labor Department reported Friday that employers added 12,000 jobs in October, well below the 113,000 gain forecast by LSEG economists and the lowest since December 2020.

The unemployment rate was within expectations at 4.1%.

The number of jobs created in the previous two months were both revised downwards, with the number of jobs created in August revised down by 81,000 from a rise of 159,000 to 78,000, while the number for September was revised down by 31,000 from an increase of 254,000 to 223,000.

Private sector employment fell by 28,000 in October, after LSEG economists had forecast a rise of 90,000.

The manufacturing sector saw an employment decline of 46,000 jobs in October, largely due to strike activity in transportation equipment manufacturing, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Around 33,000 unionized machinists at Boeing have been on strike since the beginning of September.

The construction sector added 8,000 jobs – less than the average of 20,000 jobs per month over the last 12 months.

Health care added 52,300 jobs in October, roughly in line with the average monthly gain of 58,000 last year.

The government added 40,000 jobs in October, broadly in line with the average monthly gain of 43,000 over the past 12 months.

The BLS noted that Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Southeast prior to the reference period for its employment surveys, while Hurricane Milton made landfall in the same region during the reporting period.

Eric Revell of Fox Business contributed to this report.