Employment: Claroscuros and Challenges
February 13, 2019
The January employment report presents a generation of 94,646 jobs, the second best advance for a first month in 11 years.
The report is good given an expectation of an economic slowdown. However, the downward trend in the annual rate of job creation continues.
The creation of 59 thousand jobs in the manufacturing sector is striking. The highest growth in the sector since 2007. The data is consistent with the rebound in manufacturing surveys in the United States. and the improvement in employment in the IMEF and Markit surveys.
This implies that employment begins the year with the impulse of external demand. So far, the United States has weathered the slowdown well in a number of economies, including Europe and China.
The low year-on-year growth of 0.4% in construction employment is worrisome. Nothing similar had been seen since 2013, when the first year of EPN's government also affected this industry.
Within a negative perspective is the generation of employment in the services sector, where only 516 jobs are generated, the lowest figure in 5 years. The importance of the services sector is that together with manufacturing, they have kept the economy afloat in recent years.
Employment will face challenges in the coming months, due to disruptive factors such as the interruption of the gasoline supply, the obstruction of train tracks and the strikes in Matamoros.
Employment brings social peace, unemployment complicates the environment.