December’s Job Report and November’s Job Opening Survey came in stronger than expected by economists, again. In December, the US economy added 216,000 new Nonfarm payroll jobs. Now that we’re in 2024, experts are still voicing concerns about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates again, and the stock market is already dipping with the reception of the higher number of jobs than expected. November’s job opening report saw the number of open jobs increase to 8.8 million. Unemployment did not change from the previous month’s 6.3 million, although the unemployment rate is wavering between 3.7% and 3.8%. Transportation and Warehouse job openings fell by another 23,000 jobs last month.
November's Job Opening and Turnover Survey
At the end of November, job openings increased slightly, rising to 8.8 million openings. Hires decreased substantially for the first time in several months, now at 5.5 million. The quit rate decreased minimally again to 3.5 million, and layoffs and discharges decreased a small amount to 1.5 million.
The following sectors saw some decreases in job openings once the final numbers from November were added. Openings decreased in Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities by 128,000 jobs, altogether. Federal Government job openings also decreased (58,000). There was an increase in job openings in the Wholesale trade industry of 63,000.
December's Jobs Report
For the month of December, Non-farm payrolls grew by 216,000. Unemployment did not record any dramatic changes, staying at roughly 3.7%, while the labor force participation rate has decreased to 62.5%.
For the last month of 2023, the Federal Government had tall increases in their hiring, increasing employment by 52,000, taking care of almost all of the decreases from November. Transportation and Warehousing declined by a further 23,000 in December. Couriers and messenger services lost 32,000 jobs, while Air Transport gained 4,000. These numbers are something the LZ team will be keeping an eye on for the foreseeable future! Retail trade employment, surprisingly, did not see many changes in December, despite it being a retail-heavy month. They had a small gain of 17,000 jobs in December. Leisure and Hospitality also changed little last month, gaining 40,000 jobs for the month. This brings their average for 2023 to about 39,000 jobs gained monthly through the year.
Conclusion
The December Jobs Report and the November Job Opening and Turnover Survey came in with several surprises this month, just as the reports did last month. As before, these surprises are causing some downward turns in the stock market, fueling worries by economists about more Federal Reserve rate hikes in the future. Now that we’re all in 2024, though, will these further rate hikes materialize? Stay tuned to the LZ Blog and our Lionzone social media to see!
Are you still looking for the right employees for your company? Finding the right candidates may seem daunting, but, with the right recruitment marketing team on your side, you can be successful! Employer Branding, Recruitment Marketing, and Employee Retention can all be handled by the experts at LZRecruit! Do you need assistance meeting your retention goals? Contact the LZRecruit Network today! Lower your Cost Per Lead and Time to Hire. We offer 100% direct leads. For more information on the LZRecruit Network, contact us at 615-928-2540, or check us out at LZRecruit.com.
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Meaghan Goldberg covers recruitment and digital marketing for Lionzone. A Patterson, GA native, after graduating from both Valdosta State University and Middle Tennessee State University, Meaghan joined Lionzone in 2018 as a digital recruitment strategist before becoming the social media manager.
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