WASHINGTON – America’s labor market continues to show signs of gradual strengthening, with newly released government data showing the economy added 161,000 jobs last month. Annual wage growth surged to levels not seen since before the financial crisis, while the unemployment rate dipped to 4.9 percent in October from 5 percent the previous month.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected U.S. employers to add 173,000 new jobs in October, roughly on pace with average monthly job gains over the course of the year.

While monthly job gains for October were slightly below expectations, the Labor Department on Friday also revised upward its estimates for job creation in August and September, adding a combined 44,000 jobs. Some economists also cautioned that Hurricane Matthew may have temporarily prevented businesses from adding to their payrolls.

The final piece of economic data released before the presidential election on Tuesday, the jobs report showed an economy that is steadily emerging from the shadow of the Great Recession, but still below its pre-2008 strength.

The solid jobs report appeared to briefly allay the anxiety over the upcoming election that has weighed on stock markets. The NASDAQ Composite Index and the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index had risen roughly half a percentage point by Friday midday, after falling for eight consecutive days.

The strongest sign for the economy was the substantial rise in hourly wages, which indicates that growth has helped absorb slack in the labor market, and that employers are competing more to hire and retain workers. Average hourly earnings of private-sector workers rose 2.8 percent in October from a year earlier, the fastest growth since 2009.