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Here’s where the jobs are for November 2024 – in one chart

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The jobs report for November came in better than expected, and that growth came from several different areas of the U.S. economy, according to the data.

Health care and social assistance led the way yet again last month, seeing 72,300 new positions added in that area, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This comes after the group had the biggest contribution in October.

When including private education with the health-care category, as some economists do, the group’s growth would have increased even more to 79,000.

Leisure and hospitality had the second-biggest contribution last month, with 53,000 positions added. That also marks significant growth compared to its performance in October. The November gains were supported by employment in food services and drinking places, which trended up by 29,000.

Meanwhile, government – a category that had the second-biggest contribution two months ago – came in just behind leisure and hospitality last month. In November, the group grew by 33,000 jobs.

More notably, there was a stark rebound in manufacturing and professional and business services – two areas that suffered major losses in October as a result of the seven-week Boeing machinist strike and the impacts of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Last month, those categories saw gains of 22,000 and 26,000 jobs, respectively.

“After a prior month of hurricanes and worker strikes, we did get a bounce back in the headline payroll numbers plus positive revisions,” Byron Anderson, head of fixed income at Laffer Tengler Investments, said in a statement. “Jobs creation may not be as robust as in the past years, but we are not seeing a disaster in the job market.”

While there were some gains in other areas as well like construction, Julia Pollak of ZipRecruiter noted that the gains are “very narrowly” concentrated and told CNBC that the growth in manufacturing is actually smaller than she expected to see.

Retail trade, which lost 28,000 jobs, was also a key weak spot of the report. And unless there’s a turnaround in other sectors soon, Pollak believes the pace of overall job growth will “slow further.”

“Some people are calling this a bounce back, [but] I think one should not be misled by the seemingly healthy payroll gain,” the firm’s chief economist said in an interview. “We always knew going in that this report would overstate the underlying strength of the labor market [and] be inflated by the return of workers following strikes and storms.”

On the other hand, Pollak pointed to financial activities as one bright spot in particular. That group experienced a gain of 17,000 jobs in November.

“Banks are getting … sort of bullish and excited about a Trump administration, which is seen as likely to relax financial regulations and take a more favorable approach towards mergers and acquisitions,” she added. “So, that is definitely one sector where we’re seeing more optimism and a bit more hiring in some places.”

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Economics

DOGE comes for the data wonks

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FOR NEARLY three decades the federal government has painstakingly surveyed tens of thousands of Americans each year about their health. Door-knockers collect data on the financial toll of chronic conditions like obesity and asthma, and probe the exact doses of medications sufferers take. The result, known as the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), is the single most comprehensive, nationally representative portrait of American health care, a balkanised and unwieldy $5trn industry that accounts for some 17% of GDP.

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Economics

Checks and Balance newsletter: Who is (or was) the smartest person in government?

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Checks and Balance newsletter: Who is (or was) the smartest person in government?

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Economics

Consumer sentiment worsens as inflation fears grow, University of Michigan survey shows

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A shopper pays with a credit card at the farmer’s market in San Francisco, California, US, on Thursday, March 27, 2025. 

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The deterioration in consumer sentiment was even worse than anticipated in March as worries over inflation intensified, according to a University of Michigan survey released Friday.

The final version of the university’s closely watched Survey of Consumers showed a reading of 57.0 for the month, down 11.9% from February and 28.2% from a year ago. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting 57.9, which was the mid-month level.

It was the third consecutive decrease and stretched across party lines and income groups, survey director Joanne Hsu said.

“Consumers continue to worry about the potential for pain amid ongoing economic policy developments,” she said.

In addition to worries about the current state of affairs, the survey’s index of consumer expectations tumbled to 52.6, down 17.8% from a month ago and 32% for the same period in 2024.

Inflation fears drove much of the downturn. Respondents expect inflation a year from now to run at a 5% rate, up 0.1 percentage point from the mid-month reading and a 0.7 percentage point acceleration from February. At the five-year horizon, the outlook now is for 4.1%, the first time the survey has had a reading above 4% since February 1993.

Economists worry that President Donald Trump’s tariff plans will spur more inflation, possibly curtailing the Federal Reserve from further interest rate cuts.

The report came the same day that the Commerce Department said the core inflation rate increased to 2.8% in February, after a 0.4% monthly gain that was the biggest move since January 2024.

The latest results also reflect worries over the labor market, with the level of consumers expecting the unemployment rate to rise at the highest level since 2009.

Stocks took a hit after the university’s survey was released, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average trading more than 500 points lower.

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