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BLS on the bright side: November 2009

December 4, 2009 on 8:20 am | In All categories, economy/job market | No Comments

I had the idea last night to do a quick monthly take on the positive aspects of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly report of the employment situation, since they are often not reported.

Little did I know that today’s data for November would be such a welcome surprise. The report was the most positive since December 2007.

Quick highlights:

• Unemployment dropped to 10% from 10.2% last month.
• Total job losses were 11,000.
• Temp jobs were up 52K (part of an overall business svcs increase of 86K).
• Health care jobs up 40K; department stores added 8K jobs.
• Job losses were revised significantly downward for Oct (111K from 190K) and Sept (139K from 239K).

I may add more highlights as I spend more time looking at the report.