Black’s slammed hard in November’s positive unemployment report

Black’s slammed hard in November’s positive unemployment report

The unemployment rate dropped nearly half a percent to 8.6% and 120,000 (140,000 private) jobs were added. However, the civilian labor force decreased by 315,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis (and 405K non adjusted) . So the rate fell as a huge number of people give up on finding work.

The participation rate went down by minus %0.2, meaning the total population grew (+172K) but the labor force was smaller (-315K). So the labor force is adjusting to smaller demand. We don’t talk about how those people are surviving.

Black unemployment rose 0.4% to 15.5% which is scary since 137,000 Black people left the labor force and the population increased by 31,000. Blacks were 44% of the unemployed who left the labor force in November. The employment population ratio fell to 51.7%, so only about half of the Black population is working. For Whites the ratio is 59.5%.

The overall unemployment rate was 8.6%. The White unemployment rate dropped to 7.6% as an additional 267,000 Whites found jobs. The numbers of the White unemployed have decreased by nearly 500K last month because of jobs and labor dropouts. During the same period, the Black unemployment rate moved up to 15.5% and 193,000 Blacks lost jobs.

Retail employment added 50,000 positions (25K in retail clothing), leisure added 22,000 jobs and healthcare added 17,000 spots. Amazingly, non-farm payrolls were revised in September from +158K to +210K, the first time the economy generated over 200,000 jobs since June of 2007.

The rate for Hispanics (11.4%) was little changed but 54,000 Hispanic works left the labor force. The teenage unemployment rate was 23.7% and the Black teenage unemployment rate was 40%.

The number of long-term unemployed was recorded at 5.7 million (long term was 43% of total unemployed). The part-time employed for economic reasons was 8.5 Million and the marginally attached stayed the same at 2.6 Million.

Politically, the house republicans extended the payroll tax cut. The markets reacted to record corporate profits and weekly unemployment claims below 400,000.

Non-Farm Payrolls

In the news from the Establishments, hiring was strong very strong in retail, business services, health and education and leisure. Non farm payrolls increased 120,000 (140,000 private jobs offset by a loss of -20K). The number was above 100K but way below 200K, so the report is rated as “fair”.

Average work week was unchanged at 34.3 hours and wages fell by -$0.05 cents in November following a $0.07 raise in October. The employment diffusion index (a hiring signal) was still positive (55.4) but down 0.2.

As mention earlier, there was some very good news on revisions. September NFP was raised from +158K to +210K and October was increased +80K to 100K.
ADP reported an increase in payrolls of 206,000 positions.

Monster Employment Index moved down to 147 to 151, up 10% compared to last year and down 2% for the month. Monster said the index was slowed by limited retail hiring.