WASHINGTON: There were 263,000 nonfarm payrolls added in November, according to the latest release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That’s higher than what economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected — a median forecast of 200,000 jobs added.
October’s job creation was revised from 261,000 to 284,000. September’s data was also revised from 315,000 payrolls added that month to 269,000. The US unemployment rate stayed the same in November at 3.7%, matching expectations from economists surveyed by Bloomberg and the same as October’s 3.7%.
While most major industries saw job gains in November, that wasn’t the case for a few, including retail trade. That industry saw employment fall by roughly 30,000. Transportation and warehousing saw a smaller drop than retail trade’s — falling by about 15,000.
On the other end, leisure and hospitality saw strong job creation in November, with a gain of 88,000. The labor force participation rate fell by only 0.1 percentage point — dropping from 62.2% in October to 62.1% in November. That’s still below the pre-pandemic rate of 63.4%.
Additionally, earnings continued to rise for private employees per the new data release. Average hourly earnings increased from $32.64 for all private employees in October to $32.82 in November. That marks a 5.1% increase over the previous year.
BLS previously released Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) results for October on Wednesday which showed job openings remaining elevated but slightly down from September’s estimate — another sign of some cooling. Quits didn’t change much in October with a large figure of 4.0 million.
“Rumors of the labor market’s demise have been greatly exaggerated,” Nick Bunker, head of economic research at Indeed Hiring Lab, said following the release of the latest JOLTS report. “The outlook for next year is still hazy with an aggressive Federal Reserve willing to raise unemployment to bring inflation down. But as we head to the end of 2022, the US labor market remains resilient.”
The “temperature is still high” in the labor market as Bunker told Insider after the last jobs report. However, it’s been cooling based on both the employment situation and JOLTS releases from BLS.
“After nonfarm payrolls recovered to pre-pandemic levels late in the summer—and as the US Federal Reserve Bank continues increasing interest rates to cool the economy in an effort to manage inflation—employment growth, hires, and job openings are all now below their 2022 peaks and trending down, BLS data show,” stated an analysis from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth’s Carmen Sanchez Cumming, Kate Bahn, and Kathryn Zickuhr before Friday’s data release.
The Fed has increased interest rates by 0.75 percentage point four straight times as it deals with inflation, but this may not be the case at the next meeting. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said during a Brookings Institution event this week that “the time for moderating the pace of rate increases may come as soon as the December meeting.”
Powell also talked about the labor market situation during the event. “In the labor market, demand for workers far exceeds the supply of available workers, and nominal wages have been growing at a pace well above what would be consistent with 2 percent inflation over time,” Powell said. – Agencies
