The unemployment rate fell to 4.2 percent, a pandemic era low, but the Labor Department announced on Friday that just 210,000 jobs were added to the economy in November, a number well short of expectations. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast 550,000 new jobs.
“Leisure and hospitality, one of the hardest hit sectors in the pandemic,” writes The Washington Post, “had a particularly slow month, gaining back only 23,000 jobs. It is still down 1.3 million jobs from February 2020.”
The retail sector lost 20,000 jobs, defying expectations that the holiday season would boost hiring at shops.
E-commerce, on the other hand, seemed to fuel job creation. Hiring at factories climbed by 31,000, while transportation and warehousing gained nearly 50,000 workers.
There are some additional bright spots. The Wall Street Journal reports:
Average wages rose 4.8% from a year ago, as workers continued to see pay increases amid higher inflation.
The share of people either working or looking for work rose to 61.8% in November from 61.6% in October, suggesting that wage increases are starting to draw workers off the sidelines.
In addition, the October and September jobs numbers were revised upward by 82,000. Over the past half year, the Labor Department has consistently underestimated monthly job growth.
Despite Friday’s underwhelming Labor Department report, 2021 has been a solid year for job creation – more than five million jobs have been added to the economy.
The Associated Press provides important context:
The jobs outlook for the coming months has become hazier with the emergence of the omicron variant. Little is definitively known about omicron, and widespread business shutdowns are considered unlikely. Still, omicron could discourage some Americans from traveling, shopping and eating out in the coming months and potentially slow the economy.
For now, though, Americans are spending freely, and the economy is forecast to expand at a 7% annual rate in the final three months of the year, a big rebound from the 2.1% pace in the previous quarter, when the delta variant hobbled growth.
