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Unemployment rate plunges to its lowest rate in nearly three years
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
December 2nd, 2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
December 2nd, 2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
Unemployment nationwide plunged to its lowest rate in nearly three
years. While more people were hired in the month of November, it must be
noted that these figures are also the result of people abandoning their
job searches.
Men were the biggest group to benefit from a stronger labor market. Unemployment rate for men over age 20 fell to 8.3 percent from 8.8 percent in October. The women's unemployment rate however, experienced a much smaller dip, due chiefly to more women having left the labor force.
"It's always important to keep in mind, the unemployment rate can bounce around, depending on who is actively looking for jobs," Paul Ballew, chief economist for Nationwide said.
The uptick was much better than expected. Economists surveyed by CNNMoney had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged, and a gain of 110,000 jobs. In addition, job growth from the two prior months was also stronger than first reported. An additional 72,000 jobs were added during September and October combined.
Private businesses have led in hiring, while the government has continued to cut jobs, primarily at the state and local level. The public sector cut 20,000 jobs in November, while private employers added 140,000 jobs.
The retail industry alone added about 50,000 jobs. More than half were at clothing and accessory stores. The leisure and hospitality industry added 22,000 jobs, mostly at restaurants. Job growth in those industries is not necessarily because of holiday hiring alone.
"Retailers realized consumer demand was going to be stronger than had been anticipated," Patrick O'Keefe, director of economic research at J.H. Cohn said. "It's confirmation that more of them are taking an optimistic view -- but still many of those jobs could prove to be temporary in nature."
The jobs report is compiled from two separate surveys: one that polls businesses and another that polls households. While businesses have reported mild job growth this year, the household report has shown much stronger gains, averaging around 320,000 jobs created each month since August.
Overall, the labor market still has a long way to go to recover from the financial crisis. Less than a third of all the 8.8 million jobs shed have since been recovered.
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