Jobs Report Shines at Year’s End

Posted By: Mark Anderson
Filed Under: mark anderson, executive hiring, economy, jobs report, employment trends, department of labor

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Last month, we reported the significant upswing in our exclusive Recruiter Confidence Index, a trajectory that began in October. For the last nine years, this index has been a leading indicator for the economy and for executive hiring, and Friday's job report reinforced how strongly this indicator has led.

Consistent with what recruiters pointed to in September, and in a big way in our December survey, the employment picture continues to brighten.

Non-farm jobs added in December totaled 200,000 (up from 100,000 jobs added in November) and the private sector added 212,000 jobs; the unemployment rate dipped to 8.5 percent (down 0.1 percent from November).

This release was above economist expectations of an increase of 155,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 8.7 percent.

The industry sectors showing the strongest growth in jobs related to increased consumer spending were transportation, warehousing (think FedEx, etc) and retail sectors, along with the typically sound healthcare sector.

The manufacturing sector also showed strength — something we had seen earlier last year. The average workweek increased, as did average hourly wages, so there were signs of the rebound across the board.

Revisions for the last two months showed an increase of 12,000 jobs for October and a decline in November of 20,000 jobs, so these adjustments did not signal any change in the overall picture of the growth in jobs in the last three months or since the early summer bottom.

Economists generally believe that the US needs to add more than 125,000 jobs a month just to keep up with population growth. Except for May and June of last year, the economy was mostly at those levels for the last 11 months.

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Mark Anderson 's avatar Mark Anderson
Mark Anderson is ExecuNet's president and chief economist. An Arjay Miller Scholar, Mark received his MBA from Stanford University and a BA in economics from Yale University. He joined ExecuNet in 1993, with extensive marketing and new product and business development experience, having served as president and founder of A&M Associates, an investment management firm. Mark's corporate leadership experience includes several senior marketing and financial positions with RCA Global Communications (a GE subsidiary) and American Can Company.