News & Insights

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 227,000 in November, recovering from the measly job gain the prior month and beating the expectation of 214,000. October’s job gain, which was revised upward to 36,000 from 12,000, was impacted heavily by hurricanes and strike activity. The 12-month average stands at 186,000 job gains per month. The unemployment rate ticked up 0.1% to 4.2%, while the labor force participation rate dipped 0.1% to 62.5%.

Manufacturing employment rose by 22,000, not fully recouping the 48,000 jobs lost the prior month. Meanwhile, employment in transportation equipment manufacturing increased by 32,000 in November, reflecting the end of the Boeing worker strike. The most significant losses in manufacturing in November occurred in computer and electronic products, which shed 4,000 jobs over the month.

The employment-population ratio fell slightly to 59.8% and is down 0.6 percentage points from a year ago. Employed persons who are part-time workers for economic reasons decreased by 100,000 to 4.46 million but are up from 3.99 million in November 2023. Native born employment is down 215,000 over the month and 1,094,000 over the year. Meanwhile, foreign born employment is also down over the month but up 401,000 over the year.

Average hourly earnings for all private nonfarm payroll employees rose 0.4%, or 13 cents, reaching $35.61. Over the past year, earnings have grown 4.0%. The average workweek for all employees edged up 0.1 hour to 34.3 hours in November.