Working Thoughts

94,000 job gain in November 2007

• 24,000 more than expected by Economists
• In light of the revisions of September and October, the
  job market really has lost 24,000 jobs compared to original readings over
  the last 3 months

October has a revised 170,000
increase in jobs

• Originally reported as 166,000 job increase

September has a revised 52,000
increase in jobs

• Originally reported as 110,000 job increase

Unemployment rate stayed at 4.7%

• Forecasters thought it would raise to 4.8%

Wages were up 0.2%

• Wage is up 0.5% for the month
• Fastest pace since April of 2006
• Ahead of the 0.3% forecasted
• October was revised to 0.1% increase
• Over the last 12 months, wages are up 3.8%
• Better than the 3.5% increase in retail prices

$17.63 is the average hourly wage

Specific Segment Job numbers:

Construction lost 24,000 workers

• Most in residential construction jobs (20,000 loss)

Manufacturers lost 11,000 jobs in November

 Banks, lenders, and real estate
trimmed 25,000 jobs

Retailers showed a 24,000 job increase

Other information:

The four week moving average of new unemployment filings is the highest is 2
years

The birth-death model (starting new businesses and closing businesses), which
is included in the estimates for the government numbers, over the last 12
months shows 1,128,000 jobs added. The number of jobs created according to the
government report is 1,216,000 total. That is 88,000 or 7,000 a month gain from
employers not considered part of the birth-death model. That is not the story
the White House wants to tell (thank you to Floyd Norris for this tidbit)