EmailStory Stocks®
Archive
Last Update: 07-Dec-12 08:57 ET
Hurricane Sandy Has No Effect on Employment Levels or Conditions
Nonfarm payrolls added 146,000 jobs in November after adding a downwardly revised 138,000 (from 171,000) in October. The Briefing.com consensus expected only 90,000 jobs were added to November payrolls. The difference between the actual and consensus stems from the estimated effects of Hurricane Sandy. Earlier, the New York Fed and the ADP report announced that the hurricane caused between 70,000 and 86,000 job losses. The BLS, however, claimed the hurricane did not substantially impact the payroll numbers or the unemployment rate. Prior to November, the monthly payroll gains had averaged roughly 150,000. The November payroll gain was in-line with the current trend and suggests the labor market has shown no sizable change in conditions over the last 11 months. Private payrolls added 147,000 jobs in November, down from 189,000 in October. The consensus expected private payrolls to add 120,000 jobs. The average number of hours worked was unchanged at 34.4 hours per week and hourly earnings increased 0.2%. Altogether, the combined gain in hourly earnings and payrolls pushed aggregate wages up 0.3% November after falling 0.2% in October. That gain should support strong consumption gains in November and into December. The unemployment rate ticked down from 7.9% to 7.7%, its lowest level since December 2008. The consensus expected the unemployment rate to increase to 8.0%. The move in unemployment was drive by statistical reasons and not by job growth. The number of workers who found jobs actually declined in November. The decline, however, was offset by a larger fall in the labor force. The labor force participation rate fell back to September levels. The unemployment rate including underemployed and distressed workers fell from 14.6% to 14.4%. That drop was unusual considering the drop in the headline unemployment was largely due to more workers becoming discouraged.
