The Labor Department said the latest jobs report shows that the nation continues to bounce back from the worst economic crisis in generations. October was the most robust month of job growth in 2015, with total nonfarm employment increasing by 271,000.

Performance was especially strong in professional and business services, retail trade, and construction, which nearly doubled its prior 12-month average. Private employers have now added 13.5 million jobs over 68 straight months of growth, the longest such streak on record. The unemployment rate inched downward to 5.0% and has not been lower since February of 2008. Wages are up, as average hourly earnings rose by 9 cents in October and have enjoyed their largest over-the-year increase (2.5%) in more than six years.

The Labor Department said the report comes on top of other promising economic indicators. As of the end of August, there were 5.4 million job openings, the second most since we have been collecting that data. Over the 12-month period ending in September, gas prices fell 29.6%, putting more money in the pockets of working people.

The U.S. auto industry, left for dead by many seven years ago, is surging back – the Big Three are now in the process of completing new collective bargaining agreements that will ensure their workers can get a fair share of the value they are helping create. In October as in September, auto sales maintained a pace that would surpass 18 million a year, the first time that has happened in back-to-back months since February 2000.