Another Good News/Bad News Report
The number of jobs created in December, 155,000, was very close to consensus expectations. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.8%, revised up from 7.7% in an annual revision process to population estimates. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised to up 137,000 from up 138,000, and the change for November was revised to up 161,000 from up 146,000. The best news was in the earnings part of the report.
Specifically, healthcare added 45,000 jobs and food service added 38,000, and bear in mind not all jobs in healthcare are high paying. Construction added 30,000 new jobs while manufacturing added 25,000 workers. Construction appears to have benefited from a post-Sandy rebuilding effort, so it is hard to tease out underlying trends in that sector. Retail, which has added quite a number of new jobs in recent months, shed 11,000 jobs (remember this is seasonally adjusted) in December while all levels of government reduced payrolls by 13,000 people. Other sectors had smaller degree of change....389 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
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