Reply #44: Eurozone crisis: Merkel pledges push for fiscal union - live

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/blog/2011/dec/02/eurozone-crisis-cameron-sarkozy-merkel

1.52pm: Some reaction to the US data. Rob Carnell at ING noted that there were strong job gains in the retail sector, which added 50,000 jobs in November. Temporary help supplied rose 22,000, although he described manufacturing jobs growth of only 2,000 as "pretty disappointing".

In contrast to the slightly soft headline figure, the unemployment rate fell far more than expected, dropping 0.4pp to 8.6%. This fall resulted from a combination of a decent 278K gain in employment according to the household employment survey, and also a fall in the civilian participation rate of 315K. The U6 broad unemployment rate fell even more from 16.2% to 15.6%.

These household survey figures have been running consistently stronger than the payrolls numbers, and suggest that there may be even more substantial upward revisions to payrolls in the New Year when annual benchmark revisions are made.

But despite the strength of the household figures, the wages numbers were weak. Hourly earnings fell 0.1%mom, taking the YoY rate down 0.1pp to 1.8%. And average weekly earnings also fell 0.1% on the month.

Moreover, the average and median duration of unemployment rose again, suggesting that structural unemployment remains a problem.