The real unemployment rate – December 2019
Bottom Line: There’s a lot more to the employment report than just a couple of headline numbers. To cite CNBC’s Jim Cramer, this is the greatest report he’s ever seen... That’s quite the statement and breaking down the jobs report from November – it's deserved. Friday’s employment report demonstrated incredible growth on back of record strength in our job's market throughout 2019. We have an economy that’s strong and building on unprecedented opportunity.
First, the headline stuff.
- Unemployment rate 3.5% - down .1%
- +266,000 jobs
- Positive revisions from past months totaling +41,000 jobs
Top industries for hiring:
- #1 Manufacturing (led by gains due to the end of the GM strike)
- #2 Leisure and hospitality
- #3 Healthcare
Important notes:
- The impact of the GM strike was about 42,000 jobs that was reflected as a loss in last month’s report and gain this month
- Factoring in the extensive positive revisions, the real number was a remarkable – 307,000 jobs added!
Now for the real unemployment rate once underemployed, long-term unemployed and marginally attached people are accounted for:
- Actual: 6.9% down from 7.6% in 2018
Key takeaways:
1. The real-unemployment rate is the second lowest in American history. It’s currently the lowest since the fall of 2000.
2. Those unaccounted for in the base unemployment rate include 6.7 million Americans (1.2 million long-term unemployed, 4.3 million are underemployed & 1.2 million are marginally attached to the workforce).
3. The labor participation rate continues to improve with more people joining the workforce with unprecedented opportunity