November Non-Farm Payrolls: 64,000 Jobs Added, Unemployment Rate Rises to 4.6%

November Jobs Report Analysis

• 📊 November's non-farm payrolls came in at 64,000, falling short of expectations.
• 📈 Average hourly earnings saw a modest increase of one-tenth of a percent, with year-over-year growth at 3.5%, both also slightly below forecasts.
• 📉 The average work week remained stable at 34.3 hours, contrary to expectations of contraction.

Unemployment and Labor Force Metrics

• ⚠️ The unemployment rate increased to 4.6%, the highest since July 2021 (4.7%).
• 💼 The U6 underemployment rate also rose to 8.7%, matching its July 2021 level.
• 🚀 Labor force participation expanded slightly to 62.5%, marking the best read since April 2021 and one of the highest of the year.

Retail Sales Data

• 🛒 November retail sales were unchanged, missing the expected one-tenth of a percent increase.
• 🚗 Excluding autos, retail sales improved to up 0.4%, the best performance since August.
• ✨ Further stripping out autos and gas showed an increase of half a percent, and the control group number (retail sales core) was up 0.8%, the strongest since June.

Market Reactions

• 📉 In response to the data, interest rates moved to the downside, with the 10-year Treasury yield falling around 2 basis points to 4.14% and the 2-year down about 5 basis points.
• 📈 The yield curve experienced a steepening, moving from 3.50% to 3.46%.
• 🟢 Pre-opening equities showed a positive trend, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up approximately 57 points.