Current Events > U.S. Economy Added 266,000 Jobs in November

(+) Yeah! (+)

WASHINGTONThe U.S. job market strengthened in November, as hiring jumped and unemployment fell, adding fuel to the economic expansion.

Employers added 266,000 jobs in November and the jobless rate fell to a 50-year low of 3.5%, matching Septembers level, the Labor Department said Friday. Wages advanced 3.1% from a year earlier.

The stronger pace of hiring could help juice up the broader U.S. economy, which is still expanding but at a slower pace than last year. U.S. stock futures and government-bond yields rose Friday after the data was released.
Hiring was strong in health care, restaurants and transportation jobs. In November, manufacturers added 54,000 jobs, 41,000 of which were in auto manufacturing. General Motors Co. workers, who were on strike in October, helped drive the bounceback.

Todays jobs report should assuage some of the biggest market concerns about the U.S. economy, Jason Schenker of Prestige Economics said in an analyst note.

U.S. employers have picked up the pace of hiring. Jobs have grown an average 205,000 per month in the three months through November, a pickup from the pace earlier in the year but less than 223,000 per month for the same period a year ago.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a gain of 187,000 new jobs in November, a 3.6% unemployment rate and 3% annual wage growth. Payrolls for October and September were revised up by 41,000.
The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates three times this year on worries that weakness in trade, business investment and manufacturing could derail economic growth by triggering cutbacks in spending and hiring. The central bank, which meets next week to discuss interest rates, has signaled it was done cutting rates unless it sees a significant slowdown in economic activity.

Gross domestic product, a broad measure of goods and services across the economy, increased at a 2.1% annual rate in the third quarter, down from a 2.9% rate for 2018 as a whole. Meanwhile, U.S. manufacturing activity has cooled, a reflection of trade-war uncertainty and a global manufacturing slowdown.
Overall, though, the economy has continued to grow, and many employers report steady or growing demand for workers.

Still, historically low unemployment hasnt translated into an acceleration in wage growth. Average hourly earning increased 7 cents last month to $28.29. Wages were up 3.1% from a year earlier, down from a recent peak of 3.4% in February. The gains well outpace inflation, but are modest relative to other periods with historically low unemployment.

There are various reasons why wages might not be growing faster, including lackluster productivity growth and the retirement of highly paid baby boomers.

The share of Americans working or seeking work eased in November. The so-called labor-force participation rate declined to 63.2% in November after reaching a six-year high in October.

A larger pool of available workers could help fill employers demand for workers at a time of low unemployment.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/november-jobs-report-11575633600?mod=hp_lead_pos1

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@Bio1590

SK8T3R215 posted...

Still, historically low unemployment hasnt translated into an acceleration in wage growth.

Basically there's only more jobs because people need to work more than 1 job since employers refuse to pay their employees a decent wage.

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Tmaster148 posted...

Basically there's only more jobs because people need to work more than 1 job since employers refuse to pay their employees a decent wage.

Uh the percent of the workforce working multiple jobs has basically been 5% for the last decade...there is no increase that you're talking about.

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Obama's economy can't be stopped

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seasonal work

nice try tho
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Hanky_Bannister posted...

seasonal work

nice try tho

yea those 41k auto workers are assembling cars for the holiday season, you know how everyone gets cars for christmas these days

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SK8T3R215 posted...

Uh the percent of the workforce working multiple jobs has basically been 5% for the last decade...there is no increase that you're talking about.

No. A third of the American workforce participates in some form of freelance work, which isn't traditionally tracked as employment (much like under-employment). There are way more people working two jobs.

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kaga!

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vigorm0rtis posted...

No. A third of the American workforce participates in some form of freelance work, which isn't traditionally tracked as employment (much like under-employment). There are way more people working two jobs.

me: ok

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SK8T3R215 posted...

me: ok

The cool thing about facts? They still exist if you don't know them.

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vigorm0rtis posted...

The cool thing about facts? They still exist if you don't know them.

I mean where is this 33% number coming from? Seems odd how the BLS number is 5% then you say it's actually 33% which seems extremely high.

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GregShmedley posted...

It wasn't really commendable then and it isn't commendable now.

Trumpers have to take anything they can get. The worse things get for Trump, the more reassurance topics like this you will see.

SK8T3R215 posted...

I mean where is this 33% number coming from? Seems odd how the BLS number is 5% then you say it's actually 33% which seems extremely high.

It's pretty straightforward-- most freelancers aren't traditional freelancers, they work through unions or apps (fiverr, Uber, etc.) We have those numbers. I tend to disregard a portion of those, because IMO doing odd jobs through fiverr isn't a "job," but even without those you're looking at over 50 million Americans.

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Ethosian posted...

Trumpers have to take anything they can get. The worse things get for Trump, the more reassurance topics like this you will see.

This topic is about Trump?

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vigorm0rtis posted...

It's pretty straightforward-- most freelancers aren't traditional freelancers, they work through unions or apps (fiverr, Uber, etc.) We have those numbers. I tend to disregard a portion of those, because IMO doing odd jobs through fiverr isn't a "job," but even without those you're looking at over 50 million Americans.

citation needed

hope it isn't "50 million registered users"
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vigorm0rtis posted...

It's pretty straightforward-- most freelancers aren't traditional freelancers, they work through unions or apps (fiverr, Uber, etc.) We have those numbers. I tend to disregard a portion of those, because IMO doing odd jobs through fiverr isn't a "job," but even without those you're looking at over 50 million Americans.

Ok so where are these numbers instead of you just posting "this is a fact trust me"?

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/elainepofeldt/2017/10/17/are-we-ready-for-a-workforce-that-is-50-freelance/#53a49d9c3f82

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SK8T3R215 posted...

This topic is about Trump?

c'mon man. we all know your posting history
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Righties trying to pretend this is a healthy economic situation lol

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Thanks Trump

Hanky_Bannister posted...

c'mon man. we all know your posting history

That's kinda sad if you're "tracking" people's posting histories on literal GameFAQs.

I'm more interested in the upcoming few months of job/consumer spending numbers since any decline in those would mean the economy is slowing which would be bad for my investments / job.

But I guess people still think the sitting president has an outsized impact on the economy?

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vigorm0rtis posted...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/elainepofeldt/2017/10/17/are-we-ready-for-a-workforce-that-is-50-freelance/#53a49d9c3f82

Just saying "all freelance workers work multiple jobs" seems like an overly broad way to classify someone as working multiple jobs tbqh. If they're basically working in industry X and do it through multiple parties I wouldn't say that is "multiple jobs".

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Remember, lefties want the economy to tank if it means bad things for Trump.

Fuck them

MudKip_Master posted...

Remember, lefties want the economy to tank if it means bad things for Trump.

Fuck them

Just like how righties wanted America as a whole to tank under Obama because he's black and wears a tan suit

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MudKip_Master posted...

Remember, lefties want the economy to tank if it means bad things for Trump.

Fuck them

ITP: calling out the bullshit claim of "the economy is great" means you want the economy to tank

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SK8T3R215 posted...

Just saying "all freelance workers work multiple jobs" seems like an overly broad way to classify someone as working multiple jobs tbqh. If they're basically working in industry X and do it through multiple parties I wouldn't say that is "multiple jobs".

I didn't say "all freelancers." But if even a portion are (and we know they are), that number's significantly higher than 5%. If only a third of freelancers work two jobs (20 years as a traditional freelancer suggests to me that's probably low), it's closer to 15%.

Most freelancers have a traditional job and work their freelance on the side. That's "multiple jobs."

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Much of the gains in manufacturing are UAW workers returning from their strike, fwiw
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vigorm0rtis posted...

I didn't say "all freelancers." But if even a portion are (and we know they are), that number's significantly higher than 5%. If only a third of freelancers work two jobs (20 years as a traditional freelancer suggests to me that's probably low), it's closer to 15%.

Most freelancers have a traditional job and work their freelance on the side. That's "multiple jobs."

I mean with your article you can't really show that is true though. I can't find any of their surveys saying "these workers have a W-2 job and then do freelance work" other than a "moonlighting freelancers" paragraph and that shows it declining to about 13% so you can say maybe 13% of those surveyed may work 2+ jobs if they also had a second job.

Antifar posted...

Much of the gains in manufacturing are UAW workers returning from their strike, fwiw

That's true. Stripping that out still shows manufacturing jobs increased though about 11K over the 2 months which is better after the weak job numbers the months before (assuming the 43K loss was just reversed).

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SK8T3R215 posted...

I mean with your article you can't really show that is true though. I can't find any of their surveys saying "these workers have a W-2 job and then do freelance work" other than a "moonlighting freelancers" paragraph and that shows it declining to about 13% so you can say maybe 13% of those surveyed may work 2+ jobs if they also had a second job.

Even if that were the case, that "working two jobs" number rises to 10%, twice the "official" figure.


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