The October jobs report delivered a surprise drop in the unemployment rate as job creation kept chugging along, but the low-pay and part-time nature of many of those jobs won’t make most people feel better about the economic recovery.

They do, however, show the power of the holiday selling season, as employers from United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) to Target Corporation (TGT) to Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) are adding tens of thousands of seasonal workers.

However, there are 2 million fewer people with full-time jobs than before the recession. Add in a feeling of job insecurity and stagnant wages, and you can see why the string of strong jobs reports hasn’t improved the mood of most Americans — a funk that shows up in everything from consumer spending to the mid-term elections.

Just look at the latest jobs report. Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 214,000 in October. Yes, that’s short of economists’ forecast for 230,000, but it was close enough not to roil the market.

More importantly, the jobs report has put together a nine-month streak of adding at least 200,000 jobs. That’s the longest period of job growth in almost two decades.

October Jobs Report: Drilling Down

However, like prior jobs reports, gains were led by lower-paid and part-time work. Top areas for job seekers in October were restaurants, bars and retail stores ahead of the holidays, as well as healthcare. Outside of healthcare, many of those jobs will disappear once the holidays end.

And although the unemployment rate ticked down to 5.8% — the lowest reading since July 2008 — from 5.9%, that’s largely a function of so many people dropping out of the workforce. Indeed, the labor participation rate is at a multi-decade low.

Drilling down into the jobs report shows continued strength in restaurants and bars, retail stores and healthcare. As noted, except for healthcare, many of those jobs are part-time and/or seasonal. Growth in manufacturing jobs takes some of the sting out of that, but it’s not good news that employment in many other major industries barely budged.

According to the jobs report, areas such as mining and logging, wholesale trade, information, financial activities, and government showed little change over the month.

Within the major industries, the oil and gas drilling sector added 2,500 jobs. Specialty trade contractors saw job growth expand by 10,200. while heavy and civil engineers added 5,500 to the ranks. Manufacturing added 15,000 jobs, led by machinery and furniture.

True, by all means, the economy is on a winning streak as far as the jobs report goes, but that hardly makes it a champion when so many jobs are part-time and low-paid.

As of this writing, Dan Burrows did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.