from the Bureau of Labor Statistics . November’s jobs creation figure was +263,000, not far off what it’s been in each of the three preceding months.
At the same time, though, labor shortages are leading to more militancy in some contract negotiations, with the railroads being a prime example. Another case of a severe bottleneck in goods deliveries may be averted by government legislation, but that won’t be the end of the story. Construction workers had reason to be pleased about their earnings gains. Hourly, their pay advance was +5.8% year over year compared with the ‘all jobs’ figure of +5.1%. Weekly, it was +4.1% y/y for construction workers versus +3.9% for all jobs.