U.S. economy adds 80,000 jobs in October (by Jeffry Bartash)

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The U.S. added 80,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate edged down to 9.0% from 9.1%, the Labor Department reported Friday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast a 90,000 increase in employment and no change in the jobless rate. Although the increase in employment fell short of Wall Street expectations, government revisions showed sharply higher job growth in September and August. Hiring in September was revised up to 158,000 from 103,000 and job growth in August was revised up to 104,000 from 57,000. In October, companies in the private sector hired 104,000 workers, but government cut 24,000 jobs to reduce the overall gain to 80,000, the Labor Department said. Hourly earnings rose 0.2% last month and the workweek was unchanged at 34.3 hours. The broader U6 unemployment rate fell to 16.2% from 16.5% in September.