Although job growth fell short for the month of November, the unemployment rate remained 3.7 percent for the third month in a row. Last month, the U.S. economy added 155,000 jobs, notably short from analyst estimates of 198,000. The number of long-term unemployed Americans declined by 120,000 in November, for a total of 1.3 million.
Furthermore, the labor force participation rate remained unchanged at 62.9 percent while the number of job gains grew. This illustrates the strength and competitiveness of the job market.
Revised jobs for September and October 2018
The Bureau of Labor Statics also reported revised job gains for September and October for this year. September’s job gains were revised slightly up from 118,000 to 119,000. And for October, the number was revised down from 250,000 to 237,000. After revisions, the average monthly gains for jobs over the last three months has been a staggering 170,000 jobs.
Average hourly earnings increase
Average hourly earnings rose by $0.06 for an average hourly rate of $27.35. Over the last year, average hourly earnings have increased by $0.81 or 3.1%. This is the fastest growth of average hourly earnings in nearly a decade.
Employment numbers by industry
The Healthcare and Professional & Business Services industries led the way with an increase of 32,000 jobs in November. Ambulatory healthcare services were the biggest contributor to this jump for healthcare with a total of 19,000 jobs added. Over the year, Healthcare has added 328,000 jobs. In contrast, the Professional & Business Services industry has added an impressive 561,000 jobs over the year.
The Manufacturing industry followed closely with an additional 27,000 jobs added in November. 6,000 of these jobs were from chemical manufacturing and about 3,000 were from primary metals. Over the past 12 months, 288,000 have been added by Manufacturing.
Employment in the Transportation and Warehousing industry rose by 25,000 last month. This is not a surprise as the holidays quickly approach. In fact, 10,000 of this gain was from couriers and messengers. Retail Trade added 18,000 jobs in total. Merchandise stores added a whopping 39,000 jobs. However, this large gain was offset by a sharp decline of 14,000 jobs from clothing and clothing accessories stores, as well as an 11,000 decline in electronics.
Employment in all other industries, including mining, construction, wholesale trade, information, financial activities, leisure and hospitality, and government illustrated little change in November.
Check out our infographic below for more stats from the November 2018 Jobs Report:
