The 13% decline in construction jobs has far outpaced the 6% decline in construction spending so far this year. Much of this difference is likely accounted for by higher labor productivity although there is no hard evidence available to confirm this. However, there is hard evidence that the parallel decline in manufacturing employment is substantially due to productivity gains.  Factory output, inflation adjusted, increased at a 7.7% annual rate in third quarter while factory work hours fell at a 5.2% pace. Labor productivity jumped 13.6% (annual rate) in the third quarter.  Construction productivity gains are certainty less but are enough to permit continuing layoffs far in excess of the now small month to month declines in construction activity.  Note that heavy contractors have been cutting more than 10,000 jobs a month while heavy construction spending has been steady.

The jump in the overall unemployment rate from 9.8% in September to 10.2% in October will be the headline everyone remembers from the jobs report released today.  But the details show a much brighter picture of labor market trends. The total job loss declined to 190,000. Revisions added 90,000 jobs to August and September. Large upward revisions are often a sign that hiring is improving or layoffs are ebbing faster than the survey estimating assumptions can adjust for. Aggregate work hours slipped only 0.2%. 34,000 temporary help jobs were added, a usually reliable signal that employers are poised to add permanent workers soon.