U.S. employers hired far more workers than expected in October. Payrolls rose by 165,000 and the unemployment rate slipped to 4.1% as the labor market showed unexpected strength.

Forecasters had looked for roughly 59,000 to 65,000 new jobs. Average hourly pay climbed 0.4% for the month and 3.1% from a year earlier.

Broad hiring and upward revisions

Professional and business services led the month with about 70,000 added jobs. Health care followed with roughly 42,000. Transportation and warehousing and manufacturing also posted solid gains.

Earlier months looked stronger on revision. August rose to 186,000 and September to 60,000 after combined upward fixes of about 84,000 jobs.

A bigger labor force

The household survey showed hundreds of thousands more people at work and a labor force that expanded by about 421,000. Participation edged up to 61.9%.

A broader jobless measure that includes discouraged and part-time workers for economic reasons rose to 7.9%. Long-term unemployment also climbed with the average spell stretching to 27.1 weeks.

Traders raised the odds of another Federal Reserve rate increase in December after the print. The report lands days after midterm elections that put Democrats in control of both chambers of Congress.