Only days after many voters complained of worsening economic prospects, the new employment report from the government on Friday provided fresh evidence that the economy was actually getting better, with a sizable jump in the number of people saying they found a job last month.

The Labor Department estimated that employers added 214,000 jobs in October, and the official unemployment rate dropped to 5.8 percent, down sharply from 7.2 percent a year ago.

The increase in payrolls — combined with a revision that added 31,000 jobs to previous reports from August and September — put the average monthly job gain for the last six months at about 235,000. That pace, several analysts said, indicated that the economy was gathering momentum.

But the report also found that wages were rising only slightly faster than the rate of inflation, fueling the debate over just how strong the labor market really is. Over the last 12 months, wages are up just 2 percent, which helps explain much of the disconnect between increasingly cheery assessments from many economists and the public’s continuing discontent.