7/29/2019 2012-12-07 - U.S. adds 146,000 jobs

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U.S. adds 146,000 jobs; Jobless rate falls to 7.7%By Nelson D. SchwartzDecember 7, 2012 The New York Times

Shaking off the effects of Hurricane Sandy

and the looming fiscal impasse in Washington,the economy created 146,000 jobs in

November, well above the level economistshad been expecting.

The report released Friday by the Labor

Department also showed the unemployment

rate fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest level in fouryears. But the drop came largely from a

decline in the number of people seeking work

and counted as officially unemployed.

Among specific industries, the retail sectorwas especially healthy, adding 53,000 jobs as

the holiday shopping season approached. In

the last three months, retail employment has

increased by 140,000.

One notable point of weakness was the

manufacturing sector, which lost 7,000 jobs in

the month. Demand from Europe and other

overseas markets has weakened recently,while some manufacturing companies have

held off on spending as political leaderssquare off in Washington over how to cut the

deficit.

Highlighting just how vulnerable to shocks theeconomy remains, one widely followed index

of consumer sentiment showed a marked drop

in early December. The Thomson

Reuters/University of Michigans index ofconsumer confidence, released Friday, fell to

74.5, down from 82.7 in November.

That was the lowest it has been since August

a decline that Bricklin Dwyer, an economistwith BNP Paribas, attributed to the showdown

in Washington over the budget.

The deterioration in consumers future

expectations was probably related to increasedconcerns relating to the political theater

surrounding the fiscal cliff negotiations, he

wrote in a report Friday.

The Labor Department revised job growth in

previous months downward somewhat.

October growth fell to 138,000 from an initialestimate 171,000, and Septembers declined to

132,000 from 148,000. Average hourly

earnings in November rose 0.2 percent, thereport showed.

By the widest measure of joblessness,

unemployment also eased slightly: after

factoring in people looking for work as well asthose forced to take part-time positions

because full-time work wasnt available, the

total unemployed fell to 14.4 percent in

November from 14.6 percent in October.

The report for November was relatively

strong, economists said, and showed fewer

effects from Hurricane Sandy that had been

expected. In Fridays announcement, theBureau of Labor Statistics said the storm did

not substantively impact the nationalemployment and unemployment estimates for

November.

Ethan Harris, co-head of global economics atBank of America of Merrill Lynch, said, Its

a pretty solid report. Its consistent with a

slow recovery in the job market.

Its encouraging that with the fiscal clifflooming, the corporate sector seems willing to

hire even with the worries about whats going

in Washington, Mr. Harris said.

If the budget impasse cant be resolved thismonth, however, its likely that jobs growth

will weaken early next year, he added. The

fiscal cliff is a very dangerous game, he said.

Indeed, other economists remained cautiousabout the jobs outlook.

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Its not something to get too excited about,

said Nigel Gault, chief United Stateseconomist for IHS Global Insight. The

number is 146,000 and the average so far this

year is 151,000. Were pretty much in line

with what weve been doing.Mr. Gault said Hurricane Sandys impact may

have been seen in construction, where the

number of jobs fell by 20,000, as well as inmanufacturing.

The labor participation rate, which represents

the proportion of the adult population that iseither employed or actively looking for work,

remains very low by historical standards.

At 63.6 percent in November, Mr. Gault said,

it was just 0.1 percent above the low point forthe current economic cycle, which was

reached in August 2012.

Were not at the point in which the jobs

market is strong enough to pull discouragedworkers back into the labor market, he said.