By Kellie Lail
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its November 2022 Report, so let’s take a look at how employment fared over the last month.
The great news is: In November, employment rose by 263,000. Leisure and hospitality, health care, and government garnered the largest share of new jobs over the last month. In November, total non-farm payroll employment increased by 263,000 people, staying on track with the average growth over the previous three months. In November, average hourly earnings for private non-farm payroll jobs have increased by 0.6%, or 18 cents, to $32.82. In November, hourly earnings in the private sector and nonsupervisory employees rose by 0.7%, or 19 cents, to $28.10.
The good news is: The unemployment rate in November remained at 3.7%. The unemployment rate has remained steady, maintaining its range of 3.5% to 3.7% since March of 2022. The number of unemployed people remained essentially unchanged in November at 6 million people. There was little change noted in temporary layoffs with 803,000 people reporting they were temporarily laid off from work. The number of long-term unemployed, people who were without a job for 27 weeks or more, showed little change during November at 1.2 million people, accounting for 20.6% of all unemployed persons. The number of discouraged workers who believed there were no jobs available to them remained little changed from October at 405,000 people.
The bad news is: The number of permanent job losers rose in November to 1.4 million, an increase of 127,000 people. The number of people not in the labor force who do currently want a job remained unchanged at 5.6 million in November, remaining above the pre-pandemic, February 2020 level of 5.0 million people. Keep in mind, these 5.6 million people were not counted as unemployed because they were unavailable to take a job or were not actively looking for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. The number of people who looked for work in the past 12 months and wanted a job, but were not actively searching for employment in the 4 weeks leading up to the survey was relatively unchanged from September and October at 1.5 million people.
Keep in mind: With the number of unemployed persons remaining relatively steady over recent months, competition in the job market continues to build. To attract the best candidates that are looking to work in your industry, you must show them that you are the most competitive employer in terms of salary, benefits, career stability, remote or flexibility options, and career growth opportunities.