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he U.S. economy added 126,000 jobs in October, pushing the unemployment rate down to 6% from 6.1%, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Labor also revised the number of jobs gained in September to 125,000, and August changed to a 35,000 gain from a decline.

The manufacturing sector shed 24,000 jobs last month, the 39th straight monthly decline. However, that was the fewest number of jobs lost since July 2000, the last time there was an increase.

Factory job losses averaged 53,000 a month for the previous 12 months. The manufacturing workweek held at 40.5 hours, while overtime held at 4.2 hours.

Manufacturing is one of trucking’s largest and most important customers.

Employment in service-producing industries rose by 143,000 after gaining by 138,000 in September. Average weekly hours worked for all employees rose to 33.8 hours in October from 33.7 the prior month.

Economists had expected payrolls would rise by 65,000 and hours would rise to 33.8 hours, Bloomberg reported.