Those hoping for proof of a cooling labor market will have to wait at least one more month, according to the latest nonfarm payroll from the Bureau of Labor Statics.
- Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 263,000 in November, and the unemployment rate remained at 3.7%.
- Economists had projected 200k new jobs in November.
Where the Jobs At. Leisure and hospitality led all categories with 88,000 new jobs in November followed by health care (+45k), government (+42k), other services (+24k), and social assistance (+23k).
- In November, two categories were in the red: Retail(-30k) and transportation and warehousing (-15k).
- INTERESTING: Despite the epic slowdown in housing, real estate and rental and leasing were in the green for the month with 13k new jobs.
Wages. Average hourly earnings jumped 0.6% for the month to $32.82 in November and are now up 5.1% year-over-year. While this is still below the annual inflation rate, it is triple the monthly price increase of 0.2%.
Revisions. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for September was revised down by 46,000 to 269,000, and the change for October was revised up by 23,000 to +284,000.
Analysis. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, tweeted that the report was better than expected but is still below the baseline we saw early this year. “The November jobs report wasn’t in the middle of the economic strike zone, but it was in the strike zone. The job market is strong but it is throttling back. Underlying Monthly Payroll gains are near 250k, less than half of what they were at the start of the year.”