December 05, 2014
The economy added 321,000 jobs in November, the strongest gain since it added 360,000 in January of 2012. With upward revisions to the prior two months data, the average job gain over the last three months has been 275,000.
The gains were widely spread across sectors. Manufacturing added 28,000 jobs, the largest gain since July of 2012 when a seasonal blip led to a gain of 40,000. (The sector lost 23,000 jobs in August.) Health care added 28,900 jobs, bringing its average over the last four months to 29,500. This is considerably more rapid than its average of 20,000 over the prior year. Retail added 50,200 jobs, this was undoubtedly in part a seasonal story as stores continue to move forward their holiday shopping period.
Other news in the establishment survey was also positive. The average workweek increased by 0.1 hours to 34.6, the longest since May of 2008 and wages reportedly rose by 9 cents. The household survey showed unemployment unchanged at 5.8 percent, with the employment-to-population ratio also unchanged at 59.2 percent.
However, the number of people involuntarily employed part time fell by 200,000. It is now almost 900,000 below the year-ago level. By contrast, the number of people voluntarily choosing to work part-time rose by 297,000. It is now more than 1 million higher than the year-ago level. This is almost certainly the result of the Affordable Care act, which has allowed people to get insurance outside of employment so that many people no longer have to work full-time jobs to get insurance for themselves or their families.
