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Economic Watch: Employment, Factory Activity, and a Possible Drag on GDP
The number of overall job additions in the U.S. slowed in December as the trucking industry shed some positions, while separate reports show a bit of softening in the factory sector, amid a new concern about the overall economic performance in the final part of 2017.
Employers added 148,000 non-farm jobs in December, according to the Labor Department, well below analysts' expectations and down from an upwardly revised November level of 252,000. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1%.
The biggest job gains occurred health care, construction, and manufacturing, with job losses in the retail sector. The for-hire trucking sector reported 600 fewer jobs in December, while the wider transportation and warehousing category had 1,800 job additions.
Some slowing in job gains was anticipated, given that November and October were thought to have been temporarily boosted by a recovery from hurricane-related weakness in September, according to Paul Ferley, assistant chief economist at RBC Economics Research.
“December's payroll gain is sufficiently strong to keep gross domestic product growth at an above-potential rate near-term at a time when the economy is likely pressing capacity limits,” he said.
The report follows one from payroll processor ADP reporting 250,000 non-farm, private sector jobs were added in December. It also revised slightly downward the November addition of jobs to 185,000.
Factory Orders, Shipments Show Continued Strength Despite Investment Dip
Meantime, a report from the Commerce Department showed factory orders in the U.S. increased for the fourth straight month in November – but investment in business equipment seemed to be cooling.
New factory orders were 1.3% higher than the month before, following a 0.4% rise in October. Shipments of factory made goods increased 1.3% in November, the 11th increase in the past 12 months.
In contrast, orders for non-defense capital goods minus aircraft, an indicator of business investment, fell 0.2% in November, following a 0.8% ...Read the rest of this story
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