Employers added 203,000 jobs in November, far more than the 180,000 expected by economists, according to numbers released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The numbers from the federal government capped a week of positive news that included numbers from payroll company ADP that showed private companies added more jobs and numbers showing the gross domestic product had grown faster in the third quarter of 2013 than any time since the beginning of 2012.
All of the upbeat economic news this week is good news for college students or those thinking about enrolling in college. Generally, an uptick in the economy means that more jobs will be available.
The report Friday showed that unemployment has dropped from 7.3% to 7%, which means about 10.9 million people remain unemployed. Those numbers partially reflect the fact that many federal workers returning to the job after the end of the government shutdown.
The numbers also “suggest the U.S. economy – after a midsummer pause – is expanding at a moderate clip with room for faster growth in the months ahead,” according to an article from Market Watch. This especially seems the case given the better numbers in housing prices and the addition of jobs and the stockpiling of goods in the manufacturing sector.
Economists did point out some mitigating circumstances in the jobs report. As many as 25% of the new job could be seasonal hires – jobs that could disappear after the end of the holidays. And while the unemployment rate dropped, the number of long-term unemployed remained unchanged at about 4.1 million.
Also, according to Market Watch, some of the drop in unemployment could be due to some people simply giving up on finding a new job.
The transportation and warehousing sector added the most jobs, at 31,000, according the Department of Labor. Those included new jobs for couriers and messengers (9,000), truck transportation (8,000) and air transportation (3,000).
Health care also added new jobs, with 28,000 new positions created. The biggest increase came in home health care jobs (12,000) and physician offices (7,000). Overall, the health care industry has continued to steadily add job in 2013, at a pace of about 19,000 jobs per month. That’s lower, however, than the pace in 2012, when health care added about 27,000 jobs per month.
Professional and business services added 35,000 jobs. That sector has added an average of 55,000 jobs per month in 2013.
The leisure and hospitality industry added another 18,000 jobs, while construction added 17,000 jobs.
