The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today that the U.S. manufacturing sector added fewer jobs in November, while unfilled positions in the sector rose slightly.
In November, U.S. manufacturers added 31,000 new positions – roughly half of the 60,000 jobs added in October. Meanwhile, employment in the U.S. economy overall increased by 210,000 jobs and the unemployment rate declined to 4.2%. The labor participation rate edged up to 61.8% -- 1.5% lower than pre-pandemic levels and the lowest rate the nation has seen since the 1970s.
Meanwhile, the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, released November 12th, finds that the number of job openings in the sector rose slightly, with unfilled positions standing at 899,000 in September, compared to 889,000 unfilled positions in August.
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Manufacturing was among the handful of sectors that added jobs in November, accounting for 15% of total U.S. gains. Other top sectors for job gains last month included professional and business services, construction, and transportation/warehousing.
Today, we’re exploring the most recent manufacturing numbers from the Labor Department, providing the gains and losses by specific subsector.
In November, both durable and non-durable goods manufacturing added jobs, with durable goods adding 15,000 jobs and non-durable goods adding another 16,000.
Related: New Manufacturing Plants Announced in November
Gains were led by the durable miscellaneous manufacturing sector, which added 10,000 jobs. This was followed by fabricated metal products with 7,900 jobs, food manufacturing with 7,400 jobs, miscellaneous non-durable goods manufacturing with 3,500 positions and electric equipment with 3,300 jobs.
Additional minor gains were seen in nonmetallic mineral products, primary metals, and computer and peripheral products.
Manufacturing job losses in November were overwhelmingly led by the auto industry, which shed 10,000 positions. Machinery suffered a 6,000-job loss, while transportation equipment dropped by 3,800 jobs.
Minor losses were also seen in computer and electronic products, semiconductors, and communications equipment.
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