US Jobs Lower for November

Jobs Numbers Off for November

Just as the economy was starting to show some small signs of a slow climb out of the cellar, the job numbers for November released in the government’s labor report showed a bit of a backslide.

While October was showing some positive movement with about 172,000 jobs added, the numbers for November were only about 39,000. At the same time, the unemployment rate continued its climb to 9.8%, with over 15 million unemployed here in the U.S. One of the biggest losers of jobs for November was in the retail sector with about 28,000 workers cut. This comes as a bit of a surprise are retailers gear up for the holiday shopping season. Another 13,000 jobs were eliminated by manufacturers despite the fact that there appears to be strong economic growth in that sector.

While the economy did add about 40,000 temporary jobs during November, this increasing trend may not be as positive an indicator as it seems. Typically, the temp jobs convert to full time jobs at a much faster rate than is happening now. This could be a sign that businesses are just to uncertain about the future to make any long term commitments to employees, or worse yet, it could be a sign that employers are using temporary workers to avoid health and other benefit costs.