Gallup Job Creation Index Up In November

Gallup's U.S. Job Creation Index ticked up a point in November to +28 after a three-point slip in October from the record high +30 in September. Hiring inched up in both government and nongovernment sectors.

The slight improvement in November comes on the heels of the first month-to-month dip seen this year in Americans' self-reports of hiring at their workplace. The index had seen gradual improvements throughout the year, but the drop in October delivered a correction to that trend.

Gallup's Job Creation Index is a measure of net hiring activity in the U.S., with the November average based on a nationally representative sample of nearly 17,000 full- and part-time workers. November's +28 index score is based on 40% of employees saying their employer is hiring workers and expanding the size of its workforce and 12% saying their employer is letting workers go and reducing the size of its workforce. Forty-one percent reported no changes in staffing at their place of work.

Net hiring reports among both government (+21) and nongovernment (+30) workers each ticked up a point last month and remain near their respective high points in Gallup's seven-year trend. In November, 37% of government workers reported hiring at their workplaces and 16% reported job reductions. Among nongovernment workers, 41% reported staffing increases and 11% staffing reductions. As has been the case in every month since early 2009, nongovernmental workers report more net hiring activity than government workers.

Government hiring peaked at +23 in August before slipping slightly in September. After being in negative territory for nearly all of 2009 through 2012, net government hiring moved into positive territory in 2013 and continued to rise in 2014. The current reading is the highest figure Gallup has recorded in any November since 2008.

The +30 for nongovernmental workers is just shy of the record high +32 from September. Nongovernment net hiring gradually increased in January through May, but it has since generally stabilized.

Though Gallup's U.S. Job Creation Index reached new highs in recent months, the improvement has slowed compared with the first half of 2014, when four straight increases breathed new life into an index that did not see nearly as much movement in 2013. Since May, the index has remained in a narrow four-point range.