Nonfarm employers added 266,000 jobs to their payrolls in November and the unemployment rate remains unchanged at 3.5 percent. Hiring in November sped up after slowing down the two previous months.[1] Manufacturing added 54,000 jobs, mostly due to the impact of workers returning from the strike at General Motors. Real hourly earnings remained stagnant, increasing at a modest year over year rate of 1.1 percent.
Survey data shows the contraction seen in manufacturing which began in August extended its run for the fourth consecutive month, the ISM Manufacturing PMI fell 0.2 points.[2] New orders, employment, and order backlogs fell faster than previous months, pointing to an overall decrease in demand. Any reading below 50 indicates a contraction, whereas a reading above 50 would indicate an expansion. While this is clearly concerning, non-manufacturing ISM readings show the services sector stayed in positive territory despite falling 6.5 points year over year.[3]
| Survey | November ’19 Value |
| Manufacturing PMI | 48.1 |
| Non–Manufacturing NMI | 53.9 |
[1] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, All Employees, Total Nonfarm [PAYEMS]
[2] Instituteforsupplymanagement.org, December 2, 2019, “November 2019 Manufacturing ISM Report on Business”
[3] Instituteforsupplymanagement.org, December 4, 2019, “November 2019 Non-Manufacturing ISM Report on Business“
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