I haven’t posted this in some time. Here is some more positive news in the employment report.
The BLS diffusion index for total private employment was at 59.6 in October, down from 61.1 in September.
For manufacturing, the diffusion index was at 62.2, up from 58.3 in September.
Think of this as a measure of how widespread job gains are across industries. The further from 50 (above or below), the more widespread the job losses or gains reported by the BLS. Above 60 is very good. From the BLS:
Figures are the percent of industries with employment increasing plus one-half of the industries with unchanged employment, where 50 percent indicates an equal balance between industries with increasing and decreasing employment.
Overall both total private and manufacturing job growth was widespread in October.