Employment Research Brief

Employment growth resumes earlier trends. Hiring hit a six-month high in November as weather- and labor relation-related disruptions to job creation in October gave way to a subsequent rebound. The 227,000 net new roles in November, combined with the prior period’s 36,000-person addition, result in a mean gain of 131,500 positions per month. This is below the average of 191,000 from the first nine months of the year, as well as what was typical across the 2014–2019 period. Last month’s employment growth solidified that October’s subdued hiring was an aberration without refuting the fact that the labor market is softening — a trend underlined by the 10-basis pointrise in the unemployment rate to 4.2 percent. Onboarding at the sector level nevertheless revealed some key takeaways.