WASHINGTON, November 10, 2026 – Marcus Rodriguez was getting ready for work with his name badge at a warehouse distribution center in Columbus, Ohio, at the same time the shift change took place. He had been working for three months straight on the job and had got lucky enough to get himself a job as a full-time inventory manager.
And then came the grocery shopping part. Given the cost of groceries being sold in the stores, his salary did not stretch anywhere near what he had calculated.
It isn’t just Marcus who gets into the calculation game while in the grocery aisles. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there was an increase in nonfarm payroll employment by 165,000 in October compared to 48,000 monthly increases for the last year. The unemployment rate remained at 4.1%, while average hourly earnings rose by 14 cents per hour to $38.00.
On paper, the American labor market looks remarkably resilient.
And this is because behind the headline figures is a much more complex situation on a day-to-day basis.
The professional and business services sector accounted for a lot of the growth, having created 70,000 jobs. The health care sector gained 42,000, transportation and warehousing 25,000 and the manufacturing sector – 19,000. Other major sectors, such as construction, retail, leisure and hospitality and government, did not make any considerable moves.
Labor economists say that hiring can be strong despite people being squeezed by the high cost of housing, food, and energy. Workers complain that their wages are not able to keep up with inflation, making good employment figures a theoretical achievement for them.
Here’s the rub: Although payroll data continues to exceed expectations, the mixed performance by industry and the continued costs of living leave most people surprised and unprepared.
It remains to be seen whether wages are able to outperform core inflation before the winter bills begin to arrive.
No one knows if this strong block of job creation will convince the Fed to keep interest rates high for longer. In the meantime, as the central bankers analyze their latest monthly report, the average American family has to juggle the comfort of employment with the constant struggle of making money disappear quicker than ever. This is what employment means to people like Marcus: It makes the bills easier to pay, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy.
