It’s a good time to hire, November jobs report suggests

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its final jobs report of 2023 on Friday, the results of which exceeded some economists’ expectations, signaling a robust and healthy economy heading into the new year.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 199,000 in November, according to the BLS, more than economists’ predicted gain of 180,000, CNN reported, and October’s gain of 150,000. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell to 3.7% from 3.9%, marking “the longest stretch of unemployment below 4% that we’ve had since about the 1970s,” Kirabo Jackson, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told HR Brew.

“A strong market generates gains for everybody,” Jackson added. “When you have a strong economy, you generate jobs for workers, but you also generate profits for corporations as well. Employers are seeing strong profits at the moment in conjunction with positive wage growth—accounting for inflation.”

Zoom out. HR pros looking to fill any of the 8.7 million job openings reported by the BLS in Tuesday’s JOLTS report should take the November jobs data as a sign that it is a good time to hire, Jackson said.

“​​That’s the takeaway,” he noted. “Workers are out there, but the amount of demand seems relatively close to supply, which is why we don’t see drastic changes in the unemployment rate—so it’s a very healthy economy.”