US Jobless Smile Widens

November beat forecasts, but the trend could be turning...

NOVEMBER Payrolls rose a bit more than expected, says Gary Tanashian in his Notes from the Rabbit Hole.

Among the 199,000 additional jobs against 190,000 analysts forecast, "Job gains occurred in healthcare and government," says the report from the BLS.

Why of course they did. From Wednesday's post after the ADP jobs report:

"Again, we'll get a better idea of details in Friday's payrolls report, but Dollars to donuts certain hard services like healthcare (and maybe government) are doing the work now. That's not productive (or leading) at all."

So anyway, Hazel's Leisure & Hospitality services were pretty good, while Education & Health services boomed and Government stuck its beak in again. Let's also acknowledge that Manufacturing employment bounced back. I have not looked at the report yet, but I'll bet that auto workers have something to do with that.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate ticked down but still maintains the fledgling potential for a bottom and upturn into the next recession.