WASHINGTON – The U.S. economy continued to add jobs last month compared with the month before, though the growth in non-farm payrolls slowed to 94,000 positions from the revised gains of 170,000 jobs in October and 214,000 in September, based on employer reports, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said today. Total establishment employment was 138.467 million.
Analysts had expected an 80,000-job increase to follow October’s original BLS estimate of a 166,000 gain, based on the mean prediction from a Bloomberg News survey of 82 economists. (Their predictions ranged from a loss of 5,000 jobs in November to a gain of 195,000.)
“The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.7 percent,” for the third consecutive month, Acting BLS Commissioner Philip L. Rones noted in a statement today. “Job gains continued in professional and technical services, food services and health care, while declines continued in industries affected by problems in the housing market, including construction and credit intermediation,” he added.
Among service industries, professional and technical services added 24,000 jobs last month, led by computer systems design and related services (+12,000) and management and technical consulting (+6,000), bringing the sector’s gain over the year 312,000. Health care continued to grow, though the sector’s 15,000-job gain was less than half the 34,000-job average for the past 12 months. Social assistance added 10,000 jobs last month, for a gain of 94,000 over the year.
Retailers added 24,000 jobs over the month, as gains at stores selling clothing, health and personal care items, electronics and appliances, or furniture and home furnishings were partly offset by a 11,000-job decline at department stores and other general merchandise stores. “On net, employment in the industry has shown essentially no change since the spring,” the BLS commissioner said. And the leisure and hospitality industry added 26,000 jobs as employment at food and drinking places increased by 17,000, for a gain of 306,000 jobs over the year, and accommodations employment rose 11,000 jobs.
Among housing-related industries, construction employment fell 24,000 – led by declines in residential building (-7,000) and residential specialty contractors (-13,000) – to 163,000 jobs below its peak in September last year. “In contrast, employment in nonresidential specialty trades changed little in November,” Rones said, “but the industry has added 48,000 jobs over the past 12 months.” Credit intermediation (a financial-services category that includes mortgage lending) shrank by 13,000 jobs to 75,000 below its peak in February, while real estate employment shrank by 8,000 jobs.
Manufacturing employment continued to decline, losing 11,000 jobs over the month. A 4,000-job increase in machinery manufacturing was more than offset by continued job losses in production of wood products and non-mineral (concrete and glass) products for use in construction. The average workweek for manufacturing production workers edged up by 0.1 hour in November to 41.3 hours; factory overtime was unchanged at 4.1 hours.
Meanwhile, production and nonsupervisory workers’ seasonally adjusted average hourly earnings rose 8 cents or 0.5 percent to $17.63 per hour, accelerating from gains of 1 cent per hour in October and 4 cents in September. Average weekly earnings were $595.89, an increase of 0.5 percent from October and 3.8 percent from November 2006.
“Looking at measures from our survey of households,” Rones added, “the number of unemployed persons was 7.2 million in November, and the unemployment rate held at 4.7 percent. Total employment rose by 696,000 [to 146.7 million]. This measure, which can be more variable than the measure from our payroll survey, showed little growth on net from December 2006 to October 2007.”
“The economy’s forward progress has not been halted yet from the credit-market turmoil and housing-market recession,” Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York, told Bloomberg News. “Businesses continue to increase their hiring at a moderate rate, and this will keep consumer spending in the plus column.”
Additional information, including the 30-page Employment Situation Summary and the BLS Commissioner’s Statement on the Employment Situation release, is available from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics at www.bls.gov.
