(UPDATE) US / Unemployment Rate Falls to Four-Year Low / Sandy: no substantively impact the job market

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 146,000 in November, and the unemployment rate edged down to 7.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

Employment increased in retail trade, professional and business services, and health care.

Household Survey Data

The unemployment rate edged down to 7.7 percent in November. The number of unemployed persons, at 12.0 million, changed little.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.2 percent), adult women (7.0 percent), teenagers (23.5 percent), whites (6.8 percent), and Hispanics (10.0 percent) showed little or no change in November. The unemployment rate for blacks (13.2 percent) declined over the month. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.4 percent (not seasonally adjusted), little changed from a year earlier.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 4.8 million in November. These individuals accounted for 40.1 percent of the unemployed.

The civilian labor force participation rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 63.6 percent in November, offsetting an increase of the same amount in October. Total employment was about unchanged in November, following a combined increase of 1.3 million over the prior 2 months. The employment-population ratio, at 58.7 percent, changed little in November.

Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from

via Employment Situation Summary.

U.S. Unemployment Rate Falls to Four-Year Low

The dollar strengthened against the yen and euro as the U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped last month to an almost four-year low, adding to signs the nation’s economy is improving.

The U.S. currency gained as the nation’s economy added more jobs than forecast in November. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his colleagues are weighing whether to expand the third round of asset purchases known as quantitative easing, or QE3. The euro declined earlier as a majority of European Central Bank members indicated support for an interest-rate cut if the economy doesn’t pick up.

“It won’t change the Fed outlook substantially,” said Vassili Serebriakov, a currency strategist at BNP Paribas SA in New York. “The Fed is still looking for a sustained improvement in the labor markets and it will take at least six months to see that.”

Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from

via  Dollar Gains as U.S. Unemployment Rate Falls to Four-Year Low, – Bloomberg.

Labor Dept said little impact, ADP said big 

Nov Payrolls gained 146k, 147k of which was in the private sector. Expectations were for 85k and 90k respectively. The two prior months were revised down by 49k mostly in the public sector. The main difference between today’s # and ADP was the viewpoint of each on the impact of Hurricane Sandy. The Labor Dept said the storm didn’t “substantively” affect the data whereas ADP Wed said it “wrecked havoc on the job market in Nov, slicing an estimated 86k jobs from payrolls.”

Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from

via Labor Dept said little impact, ADP said big | The Big Picture.

Jack Welch Casts Doubt On Jobs Report Again

The November jobs report, which was released on Friday — the first jobs report since the election — had a lot of statistical noise because of Hurricane Sandy, according to some economists and economics journalists.

The results were better than expected: The BLS reported that the economy added 146,000 jobs in November, far more than the average of 85,000 jobs forecast by economists. But much of the job growth was in low-wage fields, and the labor market still has a long way to go before fully healing.

Though Welch cast doubt on the BLS’ revisions of the September and October jobs reports, it usually revises its recent jobs reports to include late sample reports. The BLS surveys a random sample of 60,000 households and 140,000 businesses every month, and accounts for late responses through revisions.

Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from

via Jack Welch Casts Doubt On Jobs Report Again.