Washington (Dow Jones)–La economía
estadounidense creó menos empleos el mes pasado de lo que
se esperaba y la tasa de desempleo ascendió a su nivel más
alto desde abril, lo que refleja la permanente debilidad del
mercado laboral del país a 17 meses desde que comenzara la
recuperación económica.
Las nóminas de empleo no agrícola
crecieron en 39.000 en noviembre, lo que se compara con un
incremento de 172.000 empleos durante el mes previo, informó
el viernes el Departamento de Trabajo.
El ascenso en las nóminas de octubre
fue revisado, tras estimarse inicialmente en 151.000.
Las empresas del sector privado crearon
sólo 50.000 empleos en noviembre.
La tasa de desempleo, por su parte, se
ubicó en 9,8%, un aumento frente al 9,6% del mes anterior.
Los economistas consultados por Dow
Jones Newswires habían proyectado, en promedio, que las nóminas
aumentaran en 144.000 en noviembre y que la tasa de
desempleo permaneciera sin cambios en 9,6%.
Más de 15 millones de personas a las
que les gustaría trabajar, no pueden obtener un empleo.
La tasa de desempleo se ha mantenido
por encima de 9,0% desde mayo de 2009. Esto equivale a 19
meses, o el lapso más largo en ese elevado nivel desde la
Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Las empresas del sector privado, que
representan cerca de 70% de la fuerza de trabajo, crearon
50.000 empleos el mes pasado, lo que se compara con los
160.000 creados en octubre.
En tanto, el sector manufacturero
eliminó 13.000 empleos, su cuarto mes consecutivo de
descensos, mientras que los sectores de servicios médicos y
de ayuda temporal siguieron creando empleos.
El gobierno eliminó un total de 11.000
empleos en el mes, debido a los recortes de personal por
parte de gobiernos municipales, que enfrentan presiones
presupuestarias.
El informe mostró que 41,9% de los
desempleados, o 6,3 millones de personas, no había
trabajado durante más de seis meses en noviembre.
La duración promedio de la semana
laboral se mantuvo sin cambios en noviembre, en 34,3 horas.
Según el informe, el ingreso promedio
por hora de los trabajadores aumentó 1 centavo a US$22,75
en noviembre.
More
than 15 million people are out of work, among them 6.3
million who have been jobless for six months or longer
Few
New Jobs as Jobless Rate Rises to 9.8%
After
several months of improvement, hiring by businesses slowed
to a crawl in November, a development that is sure to
intensify the debate over what can and should be done to
reignite the economy.
The
United States added a total of just 39,000 jobs last month,
down from an upwardly revised gain of 172,000 in October,
the Labor Department reported on Friday. With local
governments shedding jobs, the additions in the private
sector were too small to reduce the ranks of the unemployed
or even to keep pace with people entering the work force.
The
unemployment rate, which is based on a separate survey of
households, rose to 9.8 percent in November. It was the
highest jobless rate since April and up from 9.6 percent in
October.
The
outlook remains bleak. More than 15 million people are out
of work, among them 6.3 million who have been jobless for
six months or longer. Many are about to exhaust their
unemployment benefits, which have been extended repeatedly
by the government because of the severity of the downturn.
The
latest snapshot of the labor market cast a pall over what
had been a brightening picture of a steadying economy. In
recent weeks, the average number of people applying for
unemployment benefits has generally declined. Pending home
sales topped forecasts in October, while last month retail
sales posted one of the biggest increases in years.
The
anemic job figures could lend support to the Obama
administration’s call to extend unemployment benefits as
well as to recent efforts by Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal
Reserve chairman, to continue to stimulate the economy.
Plodding
economic growth, however, seems insufficient to persuade
businesses to hire.
“Obviously
this is a disappointing report, to say the least,” James
F. O’Sullivan, chief economist at MF Global, said of the
monthly jobs data. But given other promising signs, he said,
he did not believe the recovery had been derailed.
“Certainly the weight of evidence is that the economy is
improving.”
Austan
Goolsbee, chairman of the president’s Council of Economic
Advisers, said, “This highlights that the recovery is
fragile.” In addition to pressing for an extension of
unemployment benefits, he called for a continuation of what
are known as the Bush tax cuts for the middle class as well
as a collection of proposals that the White House is now
referring to as the Obama tax cuts.
“To
have taxes go up on 98 percent of Americans,” Mr. Goolsbee
said, “would pose a risk to the aggregate economic
performance.”
The
weak November job numbers will also feed the politically
charged debate over whether the government should seek to
aggressively reduce the deficit or be willing to spend more
until the economy returns to better health.
The
stock markets shrugged off the report, which was well shy of
the forecast for a gain of 150,000 jobs, as all the major
indexes rose slightly on Friday.
Part
of the surprise in the November report was that layoffs,
which had subsided earlier this year, picked up again. The
number of people who were unemployed because they had been
laid off or had concluded a temporary assignment increased
by 390,000.
Private
companies, which have been hiring since the beginning of the
year, added 50,000 jobs in November. Most of those increases
came in the temporary help and health care sectors.
Manufacturers, which had demonstrated some strength earlier
in the year, eliminated 13,000 jobs, and despite recent
sales increases, the retail sector shed more than 28,000
jobs. One sign of continued insecurity among employers was
that temporary workers accounted for 40,000 of the jobs
added in the private sector. Staffing firms said companies
were continuing to use contract workers to fill gaps rather
than binding themselves to permanent employees.
Employers
are “still in the position of saying, ‘Hey, we need help,
but only when we absolutely have to do we commit to
permanent hiring,’ ” said Tig Gilliam, chief executive
of Adecco North America. “That uncertainty takes time to
overcome.”
Included
in the latest report were revisions for previous months. The
agency said that the economy added 172,000 jobs in October,
more than the 151,000 it originally reported.
Many
risks remain for the economy. The latest report showed
14,000 jobs were cut by local governments, a decline that
could accelerate if states and towns were required to prune
further to deal with shrinking budgets and larger deficits.
With
President Obama’s deficit commission examining long–term
spending cuts, unemployment benefits expiring and a
Congressional fight looming over tax cuts, consumers could
become more reluctant to spend despite some recent signs of
renewed vigor. That, in turn, could cause businesses to
reconsider hiring plans.
Advocates
for the unemployed expressed dismay over the latest jobs
report. “I’m still trying to get my jaw off the floor,”
said Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the National
Employment Law Project. “What it does is it kills the
story that maybe I thought we could start telling, which was
steady improvement. If we had four months in a row of
improving jobs numbers, we would still need a lot of work to
get back to full employment, but now it’s not even moving
in the right direction.”
The
absence of robust hiring has puzzled some because companies
are enjoying strong earnings and building large cash
reserves.
“A
lot of this profit increase has come about from cost–cutting,”
said Kevin Logan, chief United States economist in HSBC’s
global banking and markets unit. “And I think a lot of
businesses are saying they don’t have the pricing power
they’d like, and they’re cautious about growth in final
demand, and that may be reflected back to decisions about
investment and job creation.”
Analysts
generally estimate that the economy needs to add 100,000 to
125,000 jobs a month simply to keep up with new entrants to
the labor force. So if employers keep hiring at the pace of
recent months, it will do little to help reduce the
unemployment rate for some time. At November’s pace, the
unemployment rate could actually rise further. Some have
predicted an unemployment rate of 10 percent next year.
There
was little sign that companies were straining to meet demand
by pushing existing workers. The average workweek held
steady at 34.3 hours, while average hourly earnings
increased by just 1 percent, to $22.75. Usually, growth in
wages and the number of hours worked point to more hiring.
The
median length of time the unemployed had been out of work
rose to 21.6 weeks, the third consecutive monthly increase.
For those who have been searching for work for more than six
months, this is a particularly discouraging prospect.
“I
have looked high and low,” said Melissa Barone, who was
laid off from a job in technical support 14 months ago. “I
have a college degree and a ton of technical skills, but I
can’t find a job.” Ms. Barone, 42, lives in St. Clair
Shores, Mich., near Detroit. She has applied for hundreds of
jobs but has yet to receive an offer.
If
the economy is improving, that is news to Ms. Barone. “It
doesn’t seem that way here,” she said.