Data shows November’s jobs report beat expectations and that growth is coming from several different sectors of the U.S. economy.
Health care and social assistance continued to lead the way last month, adding 72,300 new jobs in those sectors, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This follows the group’s biggest contribution in October.
If we included private education in the health care category, as some economists do, the growth for this group would have increased even further to 79,000.
Leisure and hospitality was the second largest contributor last month, adding 53,000 jobs. This also represents significant growth compared to October’s performance. November’s increase was driven by food service and restaurant employment, which trended up by 29,000.
Meanwhile, government, which was the second-largest contributor two months ago, fell behind leisure and hospitality last month. Employment at the group increased by 33,000 in November.
Also noteworthy was the remarkable recovery in manufacturing and professional and business services, which suffered heavy losses in October due to the seven-week Boeing machinists’ strike and the impact of hurricanes Helen and Milton. Last month, these categories added 22,000 and 26,000 jobs, respectively.
“Major payrolls rebounded following last month’s hurricanes and worker strikes, with some positive revisions,” Byron Anderson, head of fixed income at Laffer Tengler Investments, said in a statement. “While job creation may not be as robust as in past years, we don’t see any dire situation in the job market.”
While there was some growth in other sectors, such as construction, ZipRecruiter’s Julia Pollack noted that the growth was concentrated in a “very narrow band” and manufacturing’s growth was actually less than that. told CNBC that it was smaller than expected.
The retail sector, which lost 28,000 jobs, was also a key weakness in the report. Unless there is an immediate turnaround in other areas, Pollack believes the pace of overall job growth will “slow further.”
“Some people are calling this an economic recovery, but I don’t think we should be fooled by the seemingly healthy salary increases,” the company’s chief economist said in an interview. “We always knew this report would overestimate the underlying strength of the labor market and would be inflated by strikes and the return of workers after storms.”
On the other hand, Pollack pointed to financial activity as one bright spot. The group added 17,000 jobs in November.
“Banks…are in some ways bullish and excited about the Trump administration, which is seen as likely to ease financial regulations and take a more favorable approach to mergers and acquisitions,” he added. “So it’s definitely one of the areas where we’re seeing more optimism and a little bit more hiring in some places.”
