The US economy added a modest 150,000 jobs in October following an especially strong September report — but the ongoing auto workers and actors strikes both registered a hit to the jobs report last month as strike activity continues to weigh on growth.
According to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday morning, employment in manufacturing decreased by 35,000 in October, reflecting a decline of 33,000 jobs in motor vehicles and parts "that was largely due to strike activity." This was the first time the auto strike's impact showed up in the monthly jobs report.
General Motors (GM) reached a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union earlier this week, joining rivals Ford (F) and Stellantis (STLA).
UAW’s GM national committee will vote Friday on whether to send the tentative deal to its membership. The deal, once confirmed, effectively ends the bruising labor dispute that has brought the autos industry to a complete halt.
Coupled with jobs lost in the autos sector, employment in motion picture and sound recording industries decreased by another 5,000 as Hollywood actors remain firmly on the picket lines following the official conclusion of the nearly 150-day writers strike last month.
Employment in those industries fell by 7,000 in September and 17,000 in August, "reflecting the impact of labor disputes." Since May, which is when the writers strike first began, employment in those industries has declined by 44,000.
The actors union, SAG-AFTRA, will meet with studios again on Friday as the two sides remain locked into heated negotiations.
SAG-AFTRA — which represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, recording artists, and other media professionals around the world — began a strike on July 14 after failing to negotiate a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which bargains on behalf of the major studios including Warner Bros. (WBD), Disney (DIS), Netflix (NFLX), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), NBCUniversal (CMCSA), Paramount (PARA), and Sony (SONY).
"The Negotiating Committee was on standby today awaiting a response from the AMPTP on both the AI counter we presented yesterday, and the comprehensive counter proposal we passed across the table five days ago," the union said in a note to members on Thursday evening.
Similar to the writers, SAG-AFTRA is fighting for more protections surrounding the role of artificial intelligence in media and entertainment in addition to better pay, improved working conditions, and higher streaming residuals as more movies and TV shows go directly to streaming.
Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at [email protected].
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