By Sarah Chaney
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. job market strengthened in November, as
hiring jumped and unemployment fell to a half-century low, adding
fuel to the economic expansion.
Employers added 266,000 jobs in November -- the fastest pace
since 312,000 in January -- and the jobless rate dipped to 3.5%,
matching September as the lowest level since 1969, the Labor
Department said Friday. Wages also advanced 3.1% from a year
earlier.
"This is a 'who would have thought moment?'" said Becky
Frankiewicz, president of staffing company ManpowerGroup's North
America division. "No one would have ever guessed we could be
sitting at 3.5% unemployment with 110 months of job gains."
U.S. stocks and government-bond yields rose Friday after the
upbeat jobs report, offsetting some of the jitters about trade from
earlier this week.
Jobs have grown an average 205,000 a month in the three months
through November, a pickup from the pace earlier in the year but
less than 223,000 a month in 2018. The stronger pace of hiring
could help juice up the broader U.S. economy, which is still
expanding but at a slower pace than last year.
Employers in November added jobs across several industries,
including health care, leisure and hospitality and
transportation.
Consumers have been a key driver propping up economic growth
while business investment and manufacturing have faltered. Evidence
suggests the resilience of households is poised to continue.
Americans' view of the economic outlook improved significantly in
December, according to a University of Michigan consumer-sentiment
survey released Friday.
"If you look at the consumers, they're actively showing with
their wallets that they're interested in sales," said Tim Hinckley,
chief commercial officer at Radial, a company that provides
warehousing and software services to large clothing and shoe
retailers.
He said such consumer strength is helping underpin growth at
Radial, which seeks to add on about 5% more employees at its
fulfillment and call centers this holiday season compared with last
year.
The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates three times this year
on worries that weakness in trade, business investment and
manufacturing could derail U.S. growth by triggering cutbacks in
spending and hiring. The central bank, which meets next week to
discuss interest rates, has signaled it was done cutting rates
unless it sees a significant slowdown in economic activity.
The economy has continued to plug along, but has pulled back
from last year's robust pace. Gross domestic product, a broad
measure of goods and services across the economy, increased at a
2.1% annual rate in the third quarter, down from a 2.9% rate for
2018 as a whole.
U.S. manufacturing activity also has cooled this year, a
reflection of trade-war uncertainty and a global manufacturing
slowdown.
General Motors Co. workers, who were on strike in October,
helped drive a bounceback in manufacturing payrolls in November.
Still, manufacturing employment growth has slowed to a crawl in
recent months. Manufacturing jobs were up 0.6% in November compared
with a year earlier, down from a recent peak of 2.3% growth in
mid-2018.
Dan Digre, president of Misco Speakers, a St. Paul, Minn.-based
manufacturer of speakers and audio systems, said the 100-person
company has kept its staff size stable this year. While business
demand for speakers is still strong, tariffs on speaker parts
imported from China are eating into money available for labor.
"If the tariffs weren't in place, we would be looking to hire,"
said Mr. Digre. "I hope I don't have to lay off people because
that's like the last thing you want to do."
Historically, low unemployment hasn't translated into an
acceleration in wage gains. Wages were up 3.1% from a year earlier,
down from a recent peak of 3.4% in February. While wage gains still
well outpace inflation, they remain modest relative to other
periods with historically low unemployment.
Wages are growing faster for rank-and-file workers than the
overall labor force. Further pickup in pay could be a key lever
behind faster labor-force growth, which would help fill some
employers' appetite for workers at a time of low unemployment.
Mosquito Joe, a pest-control franchise based out of Virginia
Beach, Va., was flooded with new orders for its services this
summer. Bulking up with office managers and new employees to spray
pesticides in yards proved more challenging than in years past,
said Lou Schager, president of Mosquito Joe.
"We're having more candidates applying, and then not showing up
for the interview," Mr. Schager said. "They think they can be more
selective."
To make sure that staff will return during the busier summer
months, some Mosquito Joe locations are keeping workers on through
the winter, even if it is just a few days a month to maintain
equipment or connect with customers. Franchisees have raised wages
by at least 3% and offered bonuses to workers, Mr. Schager
said.
--Eric Morath contributed to this article.
Write to Sarah Chaney at sarah.chaney@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 06, 2019 13:28 ET (18:28 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.