By Susan Jones |CNS News
(Photo
by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump frequently points to the
strong economy as one of his major accomplishments, and today's employment
summary gives him more bragging rights:
158,593,000 Americans were working in November, the 24th
record of Trump's presidency.
The unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a point to 3.5
percent, a 50-year low.
"GREAT JOBS REPORT!" Trump tweeted Friday
morning.
In November, the civilian non-institutional population in
the United States was 260,020,000. That included all people 16 and older who
did not live in an institution (such as a prison, nursing home or long-term
care facility).
Of that civilian non-institutional population,
164,404,000 were participating in the labor force, meaning that they either had
a job or were actively seeking one during the last month. This resulted in a
labor force participation rate of 63.2 percent.
The labor force participation rate has never been higher
than 67.3 percent, a level achieved in the early months of 2000. The Trump-era
high was set last month at 63.3 percent. Economists say retiring baby boomers
account for some of the decline since the turn of the century.
Among the major worker groups, the November unemployment
rates for adult men (3.2 percent), adult women (3.2 percent), teenagers (12.0 percent),
Whites (3.2 percent), Blacks (5.5 percent), Asians (2.6 percent), and Hispanics
(4.2 percent) showed little or no change in November.
In November, notable job gains occurred in health care
and in professional and technical services. Employment also increased in
manufacturing, reflecting the return of workers from a strike. Employment
continued to trend up in leisure and hospitality, transportation and
warehousing, and financial activities, while mining lost jobs.
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for
September was revised up by 13,000 to +193,000, and the change for
October was revised up by 28,000 to +156,000. With these revisions, employment
gains in September and October combined were 41,000 more than previously
reported, another indication of a strong job market.
In November, average hourly earnings for all employees on
private nonfarm payrolls rose by 7 cents to $28.29. Over the last 12 months,
average hourly earnings have increased 3.1 percent.
President Trump tweeted on Friday morning: "Stock
Markets Up Record Numbers. For this year alone, Dow up 18.65%, S&P up
24.36%, Nasdaq Composite up 29.17%. 'It’s the economy, stupid.'”
2018 Employment Highlights
In a report released
three days ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said a total of 166.4 million
people, or 64.4 percent of the civilian noninstitutional population, age 16 and
over, worked at some point during 2018.
The number of people who experienced some unemployment
during 2018 declined by 1.3 million to 13.2 million.
The data derives from information collected in the Annual
Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey, which is
conducted monthly by the U.S. Census Bureau.
BLS notes the following highlights from the 2018 data:
-- The proportion of workers who worked full time,
year-round in 2018 was 70.4 percent, up 0.9 percentage point from the prior
year.
-- About 2.2 million individuals looked for a job but did
not work at all in 2018, compared with 2.4 million in 2017. (Of the 11.0
million individuals who both worked and experienced unemployment in 2018, 21.7
percent had two or more spells of unemployment, up 1.5 percentage points from
2017.)
-- The proportion of men who worked at some time during
2018 was 69.7 percent, little changed from 2017. The proportion of women,
however, increased by 0.6 percentage point to 59.4 percent in 2018.
-- Among the major demographic groups, the proportions of
Whites (64.7 percent), Blacks (62.4 percent), Asians (64.5 percent), and
Hispanics (66.6 percent) who worked at some time during 2018 showed little
change from 2017.
-- Among those with work experience in 2018, 80.8 percent
usually worked full time, up 0.4 percentage point from a year earlier. The
proportion of women who usually worked full time increased 0.9 percentage point
over the year to 74.4 percent in 2018. The share of men who usually worked full
time was little changed at 86.7 percent. Among those who worked at some point
in 2018, Asians (84.7 percent) were more likely to work full time, followed by
Blacks (82.4 percent), and Hispanics (81.2 percent), and Whites (80.4 percent).
-- Overall, 168.6 million persons worked or looked for
work at some time in 2018, up 1.1 million from the prior year. Of those, 13.2
million experienced some unemployment during 2018, down by 1.3 million from
2017.
The business and economic reporting of
CNSNews.com is funded in part with a gift made in memory of Dr. Keith C. Wold.
