ECONOMY
Labor market hiring is slower but healthy with strength in a few key sectors
The November jobs report, to be released Friday morning, will provide the latest snapshot of the state of the jobs market heading into 2024
By Lauren Kaori Gurley
December 8, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EST
The final stretch of 2023 is shaping up to be the slowest hiring period in years for the U.S. labor market, as employers tighten their belts after years of explosive growth following the job losses of the coronavirus pandemic. ... In fact, there are just a handful of industries, health care especially, that are fueling the labor market, keeping the economy out of a recession that economists had widely feared just a year ago.
The November jobs report, to be released Friday morning, will provide the latest snapshot of the state of the jobs market heading into 2024, with economists predicting 190,000 new jobs, up from 150,000 in October. Economists are also forecasting that the unemployment rate will hold at 3.9 percent, but are watching closely for any pickup.
“The unemployment rate has been rising for months, the question is whether this is a trend that will continue," said Nick Bunker, economic research director at the jobs site Indeed. A rising unemployment rate could be a warning sign, he added.
The unemployment rate, which fell to lows not seen since the late 1960s in April, has increased by half a percentage point since then with about 849,000 more workers reporting that they are unemployed. That softening is likely happening for a variety reasons that should not cause concern about a broader downturn for now, economists say. More workers are entering and reentering the labor market. Also, recently a wave of strikes, notably in the
auto-manufacturing and entertainment industries, which were resolved, have created some labor market slack.
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By Lauren Kaori Gurley
Lauren Kaori Gurley is the labor reporter for The Washington Post. She previously covered labor and tech for Vice's Motherboard. Twitter
https://twitter.com/laurenkgurley
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