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116,000 new jobs in October
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November 5, 1998: 2:27 p.m. ET
Monthly jobs report inadvertently released a day early by Labor Dept.
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The U.S. economy created fewer jobs than economists had anticipated in October, leaving the unemployment rate unchanged from September's reading of 4.6 percent, the U.S. Labor Department inadvertently announced on Thursday.
The unexpected release of the October jobs report a day ahead of schedule represented an unprecedented blunder and briefly jolted financial markets.
"I've been in the business 40 years...almost 40 years. I can tell you the leaks in 40 years and I won't even use all the fingers on one hand," said Delos Smith, economist at the Conference Board, an independent research firm which calculates the leading economic indicators report and figures on consumer confidence for the U.S. government. (222K WAV) (222K AIFF)
Bonds initially jumped on the surprising news, with investors sending the benchmark 30-year Treasury more than one full point higher in price, pushing the yield to 5.26 percent. Later in the day, the long bond fell back -- easing 3/32 to 5.33 percent.
Specifically, the economy created 116,000 non-farm jobs last month, below the consensus estimates calling for growth of 200,000 jobs, according to data released on the Labor Department's Web site.
The October report showed reductions of 52,000 manufacturing jobs and 10,000 retailing jobs. However, service jobs grew by 150,000 -- evidence of the gradual shift in the U.S. business climate.
Average hourly earnings -- a measure of wage inflation -- rose just 1 cent to $12.88.
Meanwhile, the department is investigating the premature release of the employment numbers, said Labor Department spokesman Carl Fillichio. The report typically is released at 8:30 a.m. ET on the first Friday of the month.
The jobs report was first spotted on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Web site by Stone & McCarthy Research Associates, a Princeton, N.J.-based research firm.
"I went to the BLS's Web site, and there were the numbers," said Ray Stone, managing director of Stone & McCarthy.
The unexpected release comes on the same day that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan addressed the Securities Industry Association's annual gathering in Florida, via satellite.
Fillichio said he did not know whether the information had hit the Internet some time late Wednesday or early Thursday. At first, the department pulled the information from its Web site when it became aware of the release. The department then published the full report on its web site at 1:30 p.m. ET.
The Labor Department inadvertently leaked a report once before, on inflation data, but never the all-important monthly employment report.
-- by staff writer Robert Liu
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