Friday, December 8, 2006

Payrolls Come in at +132,000

From the BLS

ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/news.release/empsit.txt

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 132,000 in November, and the unemployment
rate was essentially unchanged at 4.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics
of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Job gains continued in several
service-providing industries, including professional and business services, food
services, and health care. Employment declined in construction and manufacturing.

Looking into the numbers, we have:

Construction down (-29,000)
Manufacturing down (-15,000).

The construction drop is from the housing drop (big surprise). The manufacturing bleed has been going on for the last 4 years. The US is going through a transition to high tech manufacturing and losing lower tech manufacturing. The auto companies poor business decisions aren't helping here.

Education/health +41,000. Leisure and hospitality +31,000. 54% of jobs created are in lower paying industries.

Business/professional services increased (+43,000). Not bad. This sector has been doing well for the last few years.

From Bloomberg

Employers in the U.S. added a greater- than-expected 132,000 workers to their payrolls in November, giving the economy a much-needed charge to help it recover from downturns in housing and manufacturing.

The gain in employment followed a 79,000 increase in October that was less than previously estimated, the Labor Department reported today. The jobless rate rose to 4.5 percent from 4.4 percent the previous month.


From CBSMarketwatch:

Job growth continued at a steady moderate pace in November, the Labor Department said Friday. Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 132,000 in November higher than the 112,000 expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch. The unemployment rate ticked higher to 4.5% in November from 4.4% - a five year low - in the previous month. Job growth in October and September were revised higher by a net 42,000 jobs. The increase in the unemployment rate was expected. Average hourly earnings increased 3 cents, or 0.2% to $16.94. Economists had been expecting a 0.3% gain. Earnings are up 4.1% in the past year. The average workweek held steady at 33.9 hours, also in line with Wall Street expectations. The factory workweek and overtime both declines in November.


From Reuters:

The U.S. economy added a stronger-than-forecast 132,000 jobs in November, the government reported on Friday, though the unemployment rate edged up slightly from October.

The Labor Department said the unemployment rate was up to 4.5 percent from the 5-1/2-year low of 4.4 percent it reached in October. The new-jobs total last month topped Wall Street economists' forecasts that 110,000 jobs would be created.

All the hiring occurred in service industries, where 172,000 jobs were added, while goods-producing industries shed 40,000 jobs. Some 29,000 construction jobs were lost in November on top of a 24,000-job reduction in October, reflecting the reduced level of activity in homebuilding and other construction.


It looks like the general consensus is a net positive.