By Tom Burnett CFA
On December 2, 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the monthly jobs report for November. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 263,000 to end the month at 153.5 million. Total employment has now exceeded the pre-Covid level of February 2020. Total employment one year ago was 148.6 million. The latest unemployment rate is 3.7%, unchanged from the October rate. The number of unemployed workers seeking employment was 6.0 million, also unchanged from the previous month. That 6.0 million figure remains much smaller than the latest Job Openings figure of 10.3 million which the BLS released on November 30, 2022. The job increases originally released for September and October were revised downward by a total of 23,000. Monthly growth in jobs has averaged 392.000 this year, compared to a monthly average of 562,000 in 2021.
Manufacturing employment rose by 14,000 in November and has averaged an increase of 34,000 per month so far this year.
Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by $0.18 to $32.82, up 5.1% from one year ago.
The next Employment Report will be issued on January 6, 2023.
Tom Burnett CFA is Director of Research