The government created 40,000 new jobs in October, accounting for the entire increase. The private sector actually lost 28,000 jobs because of the Boeing strike and two hurricanes.

Government was one of the top three areas of job growth over the past year.

The other two are healthcare and leisure and hospitality.

Health care providers added 52,000 jobs last month, but hotels, restaurants and other hospitality businesses lost 4,000 jobs.