Kegan Ward, assistant manager of Swami Spirits, walks through the wreckage of the damaged store Sept. 27 after Hurricane Helene in Cedar Key, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, file)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added just 12,000 jobs in October, a total that economists say was held back by the effects of strikes and hurricanes that left many workers temporarily off the payroll. The report provided a somewhat murky picture of the labor market at the end of a presidential race that has heavily influenced voters’ feelings about the economy.

Last month’s job gain was down significantly from the 223,000 jobs added in September. But economists estimated that hurricanes Helene and Milton, combined with strikes at Boeing and elsewhere, had the effect of reducing net job growth by tens of thousands of jobs in October.

Friday’s Labor Department report also showed that the unemployment rate remained at 4.1 percent last month. The low unemployment rate suggests the job market is still fundamentally healthy, if not as robust as it was earlier this year. Combined with an inflation rate that has fallen from its 2022 peak to near pre-pandemic levels, the overall economy appears to be on solid footing ahead of Election Day.

The government has not estimated how many jobs may have been temporarily removed from payrolls last month. But economists said they believe the storms and strikes caused up to 100,000 job losses. Reflecting the impact of the strikes, factories shed 46,000 positions in October.

Still, in a warning sign for future hiring, temp firms shed 49,000 jobs last month. Companies often hire temporary workers before hiring full-time employees. On the other hand, healthcare companies added 52,000 jobs in October and state and local governments took 39,000 jobs.

The employment report for October also revised down the government’s estimate of job growth in August and September by a total of 112,000 jobs, indicating that the labor market was not as robust as expected. he thought initially.

“The large, one-off shocks that hit the economy in October make it impossible to know whether the labor market changed direction this month,” Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank, wrote in a commentary. “But downward revisions to job growth through September show it cooled before producing these shocks.”

Still, economists noted that the United States has the strongest of the world’s most advanced economies, one that has proved surprisingly durable despite pressure from high interest rates. This week, for example, the government estimated that the economy expanded at a healthy annual rate of 2.8 percent in the last quarter, with consumer spending helping to boost growth.

However, as voters choose between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, large numbers of Americans have expressed dissatisfaction with the state of the economy. Despite the sharp fall in inflation, many people are exasperated by high prices, which have risen during the recovery from the pandemic recession and remain about 20% higher on average than they were before inflation began to accelerate in early 2021.

With inflation cooling significantly, the Fed is set to cut its benchmark interest rate for the second time next week and likely again in December. The Fed’s 11 rate hikes in 2022 and 2023 have managed to help slow inflation without tipping the economy into a recession. A series of Fed rate cuts should lead to lower consumer and business lending rates over time.

Meanwhile, there were signs of a slowdown in the labor market. This week, the Labor Department reported that employers posted 7.4 million jobs in September. While that’s still more than employers posted on the eve of the pandemic in 2020, it was the fewest openings since January 2021.

And 3.1 million Americans left their jobs in September, the fewest in four years. A drop in quits tends to indicate that more workers are losing confidence in their ability to get a better job elsewhere.

Even so, with the unemployment rate and the number of people filing for unemployment benefits each week still unusually low, Americans as a whole continue to enjoy unusual job security.

“The cooling of the labor market is still ongoing”, said Sarah House, senior economist at Wells Fargo. “Overall, the labor market — it’s not falling apart, but it’s too early to say that conditions have stabilized.”

For employers, a softer labor market eases labor shortages that have left many of them scrambling to find and keep workers over the past few years.

Jon Abt, co-president of Chicago-based Abt Electronics, said it has become somewhat easier to hire and his company has felt less pressure to raise wages this year. However, finding qualified installers and service technicians remains a challenge.

The electronics retailer, which has 1,750 employees, including 200 part-time, runs its own training program, works with trade schools to find workers and also takes applicants by referral. If the labor market deteriorates further, Abt said, “It will be easier to find the quality people we’re looking for.”

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AP Retail Writer Anne D’Innocenzio in New York contributed to this report.