Payroll Growth Shows U.S. Labor Market Healing Before Election

American employers hired more workers than forecast in October while an influx of people joining the labor force pushed the jobless rate higher, according to the last job market report before the presidential election.

Payrolls expanded by 171,000 workers following a 148,000 gain in September that was bigger than first estimated, figures from the Labor Department showed yesterday. October’s increase exceeded the highest forecast in a Bloomberg survey with a median projection of 125,000. Unemployment rose to 7.9 percent.