The US job market again beat expectations in November, hiring 263k, led by the service sector.
Leisure and hospitality was the top category for job gains, adding 88,000 jobs, according to a US Bureau of Labor Statistics report. Around 62,000 of those jobs were in the hospitality industry, the report said.
Health care and social assistance was the second largest category last month, adding more than 68,000 jobs. When these groups are combined with education in a broader category, as some economists do, the gains jump to 82,000.
Betsey Stevenson, a University of Michigan professor and former US Department of Labor chief economist, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the strength of these sectors shows how the economy is still responding to the impact of the Covid pandemic.
“If you look at where the job growth was in this report, 170,000 of those jobs were in two sectors, sectors where we need people: education and health services, which have barely recovered to pre-pandemic levels, and Leisure and hospitality, which hasn’t recovered anywhere near to its pre-pandemic employment levels,” Stevenson said.
Public sector employment also had a strong month, adding 42,000 jobs.
Despite the headlines and strength in the services sector, there were still weaknesses in the economy. The retail and transportation and warehousing categories lost jobs last month.
These declines come as retail and e-commerce businesses struggled to manage inventory and shift consumer spending following an online shopping boom during the pandemic.
“So we have some sectors that are still recovering and other sectors that I think were ahead of their skis,” Stevenson said.
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