HEADLINES:

  • +143,000 jobs added
  • U3 unemployment rate unchanged at 4.1%
  • U6 underemployment rate rose  +0.1% from 8.0% to 8.1%
  • Here are the headlines on wages and the chronic heightened underemployment:

    Wages and participation rates

  • Not in Labor Force, but Want a Job Now: rose +43,000 from 5.265 million to 5.308 million
  • Part time for economic reasons: rose +64,000 from 4.851 million to 4.915 million
  • Employment/population ratio ages 25-54: rose +0.1% from 79.0% to 79.1%
  • Average Weekly Earnings for Production and Nonsupervisory Personnel: rose $.0.07 from  $22.23 to $22.30, up +2.3% YoY.  (Note: you may be reading different information about wages elsewhere. They are citing average wages for all private workers. I use wages for nonsupervisory personnel, to come closer to the situation for ordinary workers.)
  • Holding Trump accountable on manufacturing and mining jobs

     Trump specifically campaigned on bringing back manufacturing and mining jobs.  Is he keeping this promise?  

  • Manufacturing jobs rose by +25,000 for an average of  +17,500 a month vs. the last seven years of Obama’s presidency in which an average of 10,300 manufacturing jobs were added each month.
  • Coal mining jobs fell -400 for an average of -63 a month vs. the last seven years of Obama’s presidency in which an average of -300 jobs were lost each month
  • October was revised downward by -33,000. November was revised upward by +24,000, for a net change of -9,000.

    The more leading numbers in the report tell us about where the economy is likely to be a few months from now. These were mixed.

  • the average manufacturing workweek fell -0.1 hour from 40.9 hours to 40.8 hours.  This is one of the 10 components of the LEI.
  • construction jobs increased by +30,000. YoY construction jobs are up +210,000.
  • temporary jobs increased by +7,000.
  • the number of people unemployed for 5 weeks or less decreased by -18,000 from 2,253,000 to 2,235,000.  The post-recession low was set over two years ago at 2,095,000.
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