US Employment Cools Off in November, Earnings Increase

Unemployment rate decline in the US, but new jobs also cooled off considerably in November

Written by: Skerdian Meta • Friday, December 4, 2020 • 1 min read

• Last updated: Friday, December 4, 2020

245k new jobs/month is still a decent level

The US employment report for November was released a while ago and it was quite mixed. The unemployment rate fell, but so did the participation rate, which balance each-other out. Earnings on the other hand increased, which is a positive factor. But the cool off in new jobs was quite large, which is is weighing on the USD again.

November non-farm employment +245K vs +460K expected
October non-farm employment was 638K
Unemployment rate November 6.7% vs 6.8% expected
October unemployment rate 6.9%
Participation rate 61.5% vs 61.7% expected
Prior participation rate 61.7%

The participation rate declined by 2 points last month, so if participation would have held steady, the unemployment rate would have risen 0.1%.

Underemployment rate 12.1% vs 12.1% prior
Average hourly earnings MoM +0.3% vs +0.1% expected
Average hourly earnings YoY +4.4% vs +4.2% expected
Average weekly hours 34.8 vs 34.8 expected
Two month net revision +11K
Change in private payrolls +344K vs +540K expected
Change in manufacturing payrolls +27K vs +40K expected
Government jobs -99K with 93K of those temporary census workers
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 385,000 to 3.9 million

The FX market isn’t quite sure what to do with this. There’s a touch of US dollar weakness but it’s a mixed bag. Traders bought the USD initially after the report was released, but then it reversed lower and is declining across the board at the moment.

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Skerdian Meta

Lead Analyst

Skerdian Meta Lead Analyst. Skerdian is a professional Forex trader and a market analyst. He has been actively engaged in market analysis for the past 11 years. Before becoming our head analyst, Skerdian served as a trader and market analyst in Saxo Bank's local branch, Aksioner. Skerdian specialized in experimenting with developing models and hands-on trading. Skerdian has a masters degree in finance and investment.