US economy adds 161,000 new jobs in October - NFP

US economy created 161,000 new jobs in October, following September's upwardly revised gain of 191,000, the Labor Department said Friday.     

The unemployment rate edged down to 4.9% last month from 5% in September. The labor-force participation rate also dropped to 62.8% in October from 62.9%.    

Expectations were for a 175,000 job gain and an unemployment rate of 4.9% in October. 

Revisions added a total of 44,000 jobs to earlier payroll estimates for August and September. September print was revised to 191,000 new jobs instead of 156,000 while August's gain was revised to 176,000 from 167,000.     

Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers rose 2.8% YoY in October, the strongest annual wage growth since June 2009. Hours worked were flat at 34.4 hours.