BarryStaff Comments on New Unemployment Data

The civilian labor participation rate, which measures the number of working-age people are in the labor force, changed little in November — at 62.7 percent. The employment-population ratio held at 59.7 percent. These measures have shown little movement in recent months.

Employment in other major industries such as manufacturing, transportation, warehousing, leisure and hospitality changed little over the month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

BarryStaff, as a company, has seen a surge in candidates looking for work.

“We’ve seen a dramatic increase in applicants and people going to work in the last three weeks or a month,” Barry said. “A lot of the people that have been doing outside work are now starting to look for inside work.

“People also want more money in their pockets for the holidays,” he said.

Early speculation was that the unemployment rate would be higher.

“Early forecasters expected a higher unemployment rate, but that didn’t happen,” Barry said. “That’s largely because the weather has been so nice that construction, landscaping and other outdoor industries did not have the drop-off in labor that is common this time of year.”

BarryStaff works with approximately 100 clients throughout the Miami Valley, a number of them in manufacturing.