The November 2023 Jobs Report & October 2023 JOLTS: The Current U.S. Employment Situation

The U.S. Department of Labor's November 2023 jobs report, released today, showed a 199,000 increase in total nonfarm payroll employment, in line with the growth we've seen in recent months. Another sign that the labor market is holding strong is the unemployment rate, which decreased to 3.7%.

The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS) showed job openings had decreased to 8.7 million, significantly below the Dow Jones' estimate of 9.4 million and the lowest number reported since March 2021. The number of hires and total separations changed little compared to September, at 5.9 million and 5.6 million respectively. The ratio of openings to available workers is also down to 1.3 to 1, which is close to pre-pandemic levels of 1.2 to 1.

Additional takeaways:

• Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.4%.
• Total nonfarm payroll employment for September was revised down to +262,000, while October's job gains were left unchanged.
• ~41,000 of the jobs added last month were autoworkers and actors returning after strikes.

What industries are hiring now? Growing fields included healthcare (+77,000 jobs), government (+49,000 jobs), manufacturing (+28,000), and leisure and hospitality (+40,000). Retail trade employment decreased by 38,000, with half of those jobs declining specifically in department stores (19,000).

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