December 2017: How is job growth under Trump?

Jobs Numbers were released for December 2017 on Friday, January 5, 2018.  This is the 11th month of jobs reports under Trump.   We are still adding jobs, and we added 148,000 jobs in December (seasonally adjusted, meaning that holiday hiring is taken into account.)

This report has been updated for January 2018 HERE!

(Jobs reports for December 2017 and can be found HERE.)

It is a good thing for the people of the country that we are still adding jobs considering the uncertainty and absurdity of many of the President's policies. 

How are we doing compared to the last 5-6 years of the Obama Presidency?

Let's not just look at raw jobs numbers, but let's look at the percentage increase in jobs numbers over six month periods.  That will even out the jobs numbers, which tend to vary quite a bit month to month.  Each bar represents the % increase in jobs over a 6 month period.

Here is what job growth has looked like over the past five years when calculated as a percentage increase over any running six month period:

Source:  Change in BLS jobs numbers from chart CES0000000001
over any 6 month period as a %.  (68 = .68% increase in # of jobs.)

December 2017 Unemployment Rate, Jobs

The December 2017 Jobs Report was released by the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning, Friday, January 5, 2018.  Job growth slowed and the unemployment rate remained stable.

• The report showed an increase of 148,000 jobs which was a drop after November's increase of 252,000 jobs.
• The unemployment rate continued at 4.1% for the third consecutive month.

Other December 2017 Job Report Highlights: 

• In 2017, we added about 2.0 million jobs; slightly less than the 2.2 million jobs we added in 2016.
• Over the past 3 months, job gains have averaged 204,000 per month.  Over the past 12 months, job gains have averaged  171,000 per month.
• The number of employed people increased by 104,000 in the month; the number of employed people increased by 1,788,000 over the year.
• The number of unemployed people DECREASED by  40,000 even as 64,000 people joined the labor force during the month.
• The number of unemployed people decreased by 926,000 over the year even as 861,000 people joined the labor force.  (You don't have to be receiving unemployment benefits to be counted as unemployed; you merely need to be looking for work.)
• 35,000 FEWER people are working full-time and 119,000 MORE  people were working part-time in December vs. November in seasonally-adjusted numbers.
• Compared to December 2016, 2,422,000 MORE people are working full-time and 633,000  FEWER people are working part-time using seasonally adjusted numbers. 
• The alternate unemployment rate (U-6) increased slightly to 8.1% this month.  A year ago the U-6 rate was 9.1%.
• The Labor Force participation rate has been VERY stable since 2014, varying between 62.4% and 63%.  It was 62.7% in December 2017, exactly the same as it was in December 2016.
• Remember that there is NO ideal labor force size, and most of the overall decrease in the labor force participation RATE over the last few years has been due to Baby Boomers retiring in great numbers.

Revisions from the last BLS report: 

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised down from +244,000 to +211,000, and the change for November was revised up from +228,000 to +252,000. With these revisions, employment gains in October and November combined were 9,000 less than previously reported. (Monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors.) After revisions, job gains have averaged 204,000 over the last 3 months. 

• Job Growth Under Trump?  HERE 
• Obama's final jobs numbers HERE.
• Trump's million jobs:  Good or bad? HERE
• 
  

Other December 2017 reports will be added and indexed here as they become available over the next hours and days.  Please check back!

November 2017 Unemployment Rate, Jobs

The December Job Report has been published and can be found HERE.

How Is Job Growth Under Trump?

November 2017: How Is Job Growth Under Trump?

This report has been updated for December 2017 HERE.

Jobs Numbers were released today, Friday, December 8, 2017, for November 2017.  This is the 9th month of jobs reports under Trump.   We are still adding jobs, and we added a solid 228,000 jobs in November.

(Jobs reports have now been released for December 2017 and can be found HERE.)

That is a good thing for the people of the country considering the uncertainty and absurdity of many of the President's policies. 

How are we doing compared to the last 5-6 years of the Obama Presidency?

Let's not just look at raw jobs numbers, but let's look at the percentage increase in jobs numbers over six month periods.  That will even out the jobs numbers, which tend to vary quite a bit month to month.  Each bar represents the % increase in jobs over a 6 month period.

Here is what job growth has looked like over the past five years when calculated as a percentage increase over any running six month period:

Source:  Change in BLS jobs numbers from chart CES0000000001
over any 6 month period as a %

How Is Job Growth Under Trump? Well....

Well... We are still adding jobs as we move into the 10th month of the Trump Presidency.  That's a good thing considering the uncertainty and absurdity of many of the President's policies. 

But how are we doing compared to the last 5-6 years of the Obama Presidency?

Let's not just look at raw jobs numbers, but let's look at the percentage increase in jobs numbers over six month periods.  That will even out the jobs numbers, which tend to jump up and down month to month, over a six month period. 

Here is what job growth has looked like over the past five years when calculated as a percentage increase over any running six month period:

Source:  Change in BLS jobs numbers from chart CES0000000001
over any 6 month period as a %

     

October 2017 Jobs Preview

Big jump expected!  

It seems as though September jobs numbers were released eons ago, and mediocre jobs numbers they were.  In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we actually LOST 33,000 jobs in September, the first time that has happened in the United States since 2010.

The Big But.. (please read below)

September 2017 Unemployment Rate, Jobs

33,000 jobs lost, probably due to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.  Unemployment drops to 4.2%. 

This is the first drop in total jobs since September 2010 with a huge drop in the number of people employed in the "Food Services and Drinking Places" sector.   We won't know if this total drop was due to the hurricanes at least until the state employment reports for September are published later this month.

The September 2017 Jobs Report was released by the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning, Friday, October 6. 

• This was a very mediocre report, showing a loss of 33,000 jobs, the first loss in total jobs since September 2010.  
• However, the unemployment rate dropped down to 4.2%, the lowest unemployment rate since February 2001.

Hurricane influence?