Employers added 210,000 jobs in November and an average 378,000 jobs over the past three months compared to an average 845,000 in the previous three months, but the unemployment rate dropped to 4.2% as the number of unemployed fell by 542,000 and 473,000 Americans rejoined the labor market.
Five industries accounted for 82% of the November job growth, including:
- Transportation and warehousing (+49,700),
- Administrative and support services (+42,400),
- Construction (+31,000),
- Manufacturing (+31,000), and
- Accommodation and food services (+17,6000).
Most other industries were little changed except for retail trade (-20,400) and state and local government (-27,000), both of which may be related to technical seasonal adjustment issues.
Looking ahead: Job growth appears to be returning to pre-COVID monthly gains with a modest bump from the economic support the government has provided over the past 18 months. At the current pace of job growth, it will take until June 2022 before all the jobs lost due to COVID are restored. Economists are forecasting continued monthly job increases of an average 321,000 jobs per month in 2022, with high rates of growth towards the beginning of the year and slower rates at the end of the year as the impact of government stimulus fades and interest rates increase.