October 2017 Employment Situation
Submitted by Atlas Indicators Investment Advisors on November 6th, 2017
America’s economy added many jobs in October 2017 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employers filled 261,000 new jobs to start the final quarter of the year. Additionally, the dismal tally reported a month earlier (minus 33,000) was upwardly revised to positive 18,000 net new jobs, and another 39,000 jobs were added to the August tally. This revision restores the longest streak of monthly gains ever, now 85 months long. A falling unemployment rate (4.1 percent versus 4.2 percent in September) added to the enthusiastic tone of this report.
Many categories of work contributed to the verve. Restaurants added 89,000 new workers, offsetting most of the 98,000 jobs lost in prior period caused by hurricanes disrupting business. Manufacturing firms hired an additional 24,000. Building on earlier strength, construction companies increased payrolls by 11,000. Professional and business service firms hired 50,000 employees, including 18,300 temporary workers. Finally, leisure and hospitality added 106,000 jobs after losing 111,000 in the prior two months.
Other data within the release were not quite as enthusiastic. Average hourly earnings held steady in the period. However, this follows two consecutive gains of 0.5 percent. Nonetheless, the monthly stall caused the year-over-year tally to decelerate to 2.4 percent from 2.8 percent in September. The average workweek also stagnated, holding at 34.4 hours.
Except for a few details, employment data kept moving in a positive direction. Jobs creation is important to an economy reliant on consumption for most of its output. While employment data is not a forward-looking indicator (most consider it a lagging indicator), its recent strength is symptomatic of a fit economy, and other economic measures Atlas watch are not contraindicating this healthy sign.
