Chart of the Day: Net New Jobs in October

The American economy gained 245,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate declined slightly to 6.7 percent:

Overall, we’ve lost about 10 million jobs in 2020. As always, though, I’d caution everyone not to read too much into these numbers. November’s job gains are disappointingly small, but there’s really no reason to think we’re going to get the bulk of the lost jobs back until the middle of next year, when (hopefully) the pandemic recedes.

Nearly every industry showed (small) gains from October with one exception: government. We should expect that to continue unless Congress passes a relief bill that includes money for states and cities.

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A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

The December 31 deadline is closing in fast. To reach our $400,000 goal, we need readers who’ve never given before to join the ranks of MoJo donors. And we need our steadfast supporters to give again—any amount today.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

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