Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 245,000 in November, while the unemployment rate has fallen to 6.7%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest employment report. While the pace of labor market improvement has moderated overall since the summer, November’s job gains amount to less than half of the 610,000 jobs regained in October, or the 711,000 jobs regained in September.
The unemployment rate is down by 8 percentage points from its high in April but still stands 3.2 percentage points higher than in February. The number of unemployed persons stands at 10.7 million, continuing to trend down but still 3.9 million higher than in February.
Of the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for adult women declined in November to 6.1%, while unemployment rates for adult men, teenagers, whites, Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics showed little to no change.
The number of persons on temporary layoff fell by 441,000 in November, down to 2.8 million. The number of permanent job losers was unchanged at 3.7 million, and the number of long-term unemployed (jobless for 27 weeks or more) rose by 385,000 to 3.9 million.
“The significant slowdown in the pace of job growth merits additional concern for the impact of a resurgence in COVID-19 cases on discretionary spending in the service sector,” says Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae. “As the service-providing sectors are populated by businesses that are reliant on the aggregation of people in public spaces, we believe measures to control the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak will likely curtail some growth going forward. For example, seasonally adjusted employment in the retail trade sector fell 35,000 this month, a reflection of weaker hiring than would be expected for this time of year.”
Of total persons employed, 21.8% teleworked specifically because of the COVID-19 pandemic, up from 21.2%. Just under 15 million persons said that they had been unable to work because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic, and, of that number, 13.7% reported receiving some pay from their employer for hours not worked.
The strongest job gains occurred this month in transportation and warehousing, professional and business services, and health care. Employment declined in government and retail trade. Construction rose by 27,000 jobs in November, but remains 279,000 below February employment levels. In particular, residential specialty trade contractor employment rose by 14,000.
“The only major sector to display immunity to the economic impacts of the coronavirus is the housing market, which has experienced a strong V-shaped recovery. This is largely due to the fact this has been a services-driven recession, disproportionately hurting younger, lower-wage renters that are less likely to be homeowners or home buyers,” says Odeta Kushi, First American deputy chief economist. “Residential building jobs initially rebounded strongly from April’s low point and are continuing the slow increase to pre-pandemic levels. In the most recent report, jobs in residential building increased by nearly 0.2% compared with one month ago, and hovers just 0.7% below its February level. Since more hammers leads to more homes, the continued rise in residential construction employment was welcome news for a housing market in desperate need of more supply.”
