employment situation november 2012
DESCRIPTION
Analysis from Management Recruiters International about the Employment Report from the U.S. Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics.TRANSCRIPT
© 2012 Management Recruiters International, All Rights Reserved. Each offices is independently owned and operated.
Employment Summary for November 2012
According to the Labor Department, 146,000 jobs
were created in November while the U.S.
unemployment rate fell from 7.9 to 7.7 percent.
While the number of jobs added exceeded the
consensus economist estimate of 86,000, the fall
in unemployment was
largely triggered by a
decreased participation rate
rather than the growth of
employment. The
participation rate fell .2
percent with the number of
discourage workers grew by
166,000.
While job growth is still
modest, there are
indications that the quality
of those jobs is improving.
The number of people
working part time for
economic reasons fell
168,000, as those people
presumably began working
full time.
The decline in the
participation rate dampens
the positive news of a falling
unemployment rate, yet the
report doesn’t show any
sign of the employment market sliding back.
Almost across the board, most industries saw
some growth and very few saw declines. Where
there were declines, like construction (-20,000)
and food manufacturing (-12,300), there is even
reason to suspect not an economic influence, but
rather continued fallout from the storm which
devastated much of the East coast in late October.
While there was a decline in the participation rate
on the whole in the U.S., among those with a
bachelor’s degree the participation rate in
November actually went up by .2 percent as
119,000 such workers found employment during
the month. Because of the rise
in participation, the
unemployment rate of those
with a bachelor’s degree, 3.8
percent, was unchanged in
November but was down from
4.4 percent a year ago. The
participation rate fell by .6
percent for those with less
than four years of college, and
.7 percent for those with no
college, but a high school
degree.
The management, professional
and related occupations
unemployment rate is
currently down to 3.6 percent
from 4.2 percent a year earlier.
The sales and office
occupations unemployment
rate is down from 8.2 percent a
year ago to 7.2 percent in
November.
The holidays tend to muddle
unemployment statistics with high retail hiring
and would be job seekers easily discouraged from
job hunting during the holiday season. But with
strong headwinds—but literally and figuratively—
November’s employment seemed to hold its own.
Yet, while we have grown used to seeing strong
end of the year numbers, labor market observers
will be holding their breath going into January to
see the rate of employment gain can continue, or
even grow during the first quarter.