Strong jobs report is bad news for inflation
The economy added 263,000 jobs in November while the
country’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7%,
according to Labor Department figures. While the
November total was below the 2022 average monthly job
gain, it was more than the 200,000 economists surveyed
by Dow Jones expected.

While this is good news for workers, it’s less so for the
economy, underscoring that taming inflation is proving
more difficult and will require more time. Some experts
worry that the new data might make Federal Reserve Chair
Jerome Powell reconsider his suggestion that the pace of
rate increases might start to moderate as soon as the
December meeting.

Construction employment continued to trend up in
November gaining 20,000 jobs, in line with the average
monthly gain seen this year. Manufacturing gained 14,000
jobs, about half the 2022 monthly average. Retail trade,
however, lost 30,000 jobs with 3,000 cut from furniture
and home furnishings stores.

Furniture manufacturing sector contracts
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted
in November for the first time since May 2020 after 29
consecutive months of growth, say the nation’s supply
executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On
Business.

Furniture and wood products industries reported some of
the worst contraction as 12 of the 18 industries surveyed
by ISM indicated contraction. “The U.S. manufacturing
sector dipped into contraction, with the Manufacturing
PMI at its lowest level since the coronavirus pandemic
recovery began,” said Timothy R. Fiore, Chair of the ISM
Manufacturing Business Survey Committee.”

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