There is … nothing good about the November jobs report released this week. The number is a stunning miss at only 210,000 jobs added, less than half of the estimated 550,000 analysts had predicted based on the October numbers.
The White House did everything it could to avoid the jobs question today, pointing out other economic numbers that look a little better, but there is no sugar coating this dismal report.
Suffering from inflation and ongoing Covid concerns, the economy under Biden is sluggishly limping along:
President Biden on Friday lauded a surprise decline in the nation’s unemployment rate last month, even though hiring severely undershot expectations with November marking the worst month for job creation this year.
The Labor Department reported Friday morning that private businesses and other employers added just 210,000 new jobs in November, well below the 550,000 gain forecast by Refinitiv economists and less than half of October’s gain of 546,000 – a troubling sign that hiring slowed even before the emergence of the new omicron coronavirus variant.
But other aspects of the report painted a brighter outlook. The unemployment rate plunged to 4.2% from 4.6% as more than 1.1 million Americans said they found jobs last month. The labor force participation rate increased for the month to 61.8%, its highest level since March 2020.
Biden barely mentioned the headline jobs number during his remarks, instead focusing on the better-than-expected drop in the unemployment rate.
Sure, the unemployment rate is good. Unfortunately, that’s because many people have simply stopped working. The people who want to work can find work quite easily. The rest, however, still haven’t re-entered the workforce.
Don’t worry, though, says the President, you’re doing better than you think you are, trust him:
The president also acknowledged widespread concern about the state of the nation’s economy, driven in part by a recent surge of inflation. The government reported last month that prices for consumer goods were at a 31-year high, with the cost of everything from gasoline to groceries to cars soaring.
But Biden said that even accounting for higher prices, American families are doing better than they think.
“Even after accounting for rising prices, the typical American family has more money in their pockets than they did last year,” he said.
Pay no attention to the rising cost of everything and the absurd amount of money it now takes to fill your gas tank, you’ve got the money! In other words, get used to paying more for everything so we can make the transition to electric vehicles seem more affordable while we make the cost of gasoline and diesel fuel absolutely obscene.
The question now is what the current collective freakout over the omicron Covid variant will do to the economy in December. Obviously, the job market started to slow in November, well before omicron became an issue right after Thanksgiving.
The White House will contend that this number, an abysmal 210,000, will be revised upward in the coming weeks. Even if it jumps significantly, 300,000 would still be well below analyst estimates and well below the expected pace.
Analysts today were unimpressed with the numbers, as witnessed this morning on CNBC:
CNBC is shocked by the November jobs report: “A huge miss" pic.twitter.com/bC2edazXJP
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 3, 2021
Regardless of the White House spin, there isn’t much here for Democrats to hang their hats on. The best hope would be a vast improvement in the spring if Covid subsides after the winter months and inflation slows down.
