The strong gain posted in December took this series back above the 2% level. There are no recessions when this series is above 2.   Subscribe now! 

Manufacturing hiring was up again, this time by 19,000 persons. The gain was led by a 6,700 person gain in fabricated metal products and a 5,500 gain in miscellaneous nondurable goods. Other notable gains were in transportation equipment (+4,100) and food (+3,700). This sector will be getting extra scrutiny in the months ahead as analysts […]

The health care juggernaut downshifted and burned rubber. The 57,900 person gain you see there was spearheaded by a 13,300 person rise in home health care services, along with robust gains in hospital employment, offices of dentists, and offices of physicians. As was the case with Leisure and Hospitality, the December number resets the profile […]

When we saw the November figures last month, some were worried that the slower pace of hiring in the largest sector of payroll employment was a harbinger of something more serious. Turns out, there was nothing to worry about. A glance at the details of the hiring that was done revealed a 40,700 person gain […]

The 312,000 person gain posted in December is only 12,000 persons less than the gain you see in February. And since the figure plotted here is only the first edition, it is possible that December could yet be the largest month-to-month gain of the year. The more important point is that the December number removes […]

Not only did the December number land with a resounding thump, the two prior months were both revised upwards. Yes folks, there were 370,000 more jobs in place in December. And, just about everyone was invited to this party and had a good time. Subscribe now!

I am extremely partial to this statistic because I think it tells a lot about the current and prospective conditions of the labor market. How much more this number can drop is going to depend heavily on what happens to the composition of unemployment. The recent drop in the number of those who have been […]

As it turns out, the decline that we saw in total part-time employment was the result of the drop we see here in what is also known as “voluntary” part-time employment. And the drop we see might have just as much to do with seasonal patterns as it does with economic conditions. The moves we […]

The jump in this line was not good. We had increases in both the number of people working part-time because their hours were cut back (this is noted under the rubric of “slack work” in the report) as well as in the number of people who were working part-time because all they could find was […]

Strong gains in full-time employment are the most welcome news in these reports. This is far more important than the headline rate of unemployment for the simple reason that, until you know what brought about the headline rate of unemployment, you don’t know whether the number represents good or bad news. When you see full-time […]