The unemployment rate fell to a four-year low of 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent as 350,000 Americans left the labor force, which includes people working and looking for work, the U.S. Labor Department said.
Despite the flooding on the east coast from super storms and budget battles in
Retailers added 53,000 positions while temporary help companies added 18,000 and education and health care also gained 18,000. Auto manufacturers added nearly 10,000 jobs.
The government revised down job gains for September and October by a total 49,000. September’s additions were revised from 148,000 to 132,000 and October’s, from 171,000 to 138,000. Since July, the economy has added an average of 158,000 jobs a month. That’s a modest pickup from 146,000 in the first six months of the year.
Bloomberg’s consensus forecast of economists estimated that non-farm employers added 87,000 jobs last month, with businesses adding 93,000 and state, local and federal governments cutting 6,000. Several economists had estimated the storm likely reduced job gains by as much as 80,000 to 90,000.
An Association Press reported noted that stock futures jumped after the jobs report. Dow Jones industrial average futures were down 20 points in the minutes before the report came out at 8:30am last Friday, and just after were up 70 points.
As money moved into stocks, it moved out of safer bonds. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note, which moves opposite the price, rose to 1.63 percent from 1.58 percent just before the report.
Still, overall manufacturing jobs fell 7,000. That was pushed down by a loss of 12,000 jobs in food manufacturing that likely reflects the layoff of workers at Hostess.
“The November employment report is always a bit of a wildcard due to the Thanksgiving holiday and retail hiring around it,” noted Mark Pinkowski senior vice president at Wells Fargo Commercial Banking in his weekly economic commentary “Friday’s report had an even bigger potential for a surprise reading because of Hurricane Sandy hitting the Northeast only a few weeks before the survey period. However, the Labor Department reported that the storm had no substantial impact on the November report.
“Firms added 146,000 jobs in November, which beat expectations of a gain of 85,000. That said, the previous months’ gain was revised down by 49,000. The average thus far through the year is 151,000 jobs—nearly the same as the average monthly gain of 153,000 jobs in 2011.
“Gains were concentrated in private services, which added 169,000 jobs. Retailers geared up for the holiday shopping season by hiring 53,000 workers. Over the past two months, retailers have added 104,000 new jobs—the largest two-month gain since the mid-1990s. Government employment moved sideways, while construction and manufacturing firms shed jobs. Average hours worked held steady, while average hourly earnings rose 0.2 percent.
“The unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent in November, helped by a decline in the labor force. Sandy looks to have played at least a partial role here as the number of people reporting they were unable to work due to bad weather was roughly five times higher than a typical November.”
