A month after gaining a paltry 300 jobs and two months after losing 900, the legal industry rebounded in November, adding 2,900 positions, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' November jobs report. There are currently 1,151,900 people employed in the industry. 

The overall U.S. job market rebounded from last month's lower than expected growth of 128,000 jobs and September's 136,000 additions to add a robust 266,000 jobs in November, more than the previous two months combined. 

The November figures represent the legal industry's best showing since adding 4,100 jobs in August. 

The sector is currently is employing about 11,000 more people in 2019 than it did at this point in 2018.

The professional services sector added 38,000 jobs overall, below its October total of 43,000, but still showing a healthy gain. Professional services as a whole employs 21,634,000 people overall, of which legal makes up a little over 5%. 

The overall November jobs numbers beat analysts' expectations of 180,000 job additions, thanks in part to the return of about 54,000 GM workers who were on strike the previous month and did not count toward the October numbers. 

Overall unemployment numbers were down slightly from last month to 3.5%, or 5.8 million workers. 

As seems to always be the case over the past several months, worries about trade wars, tariffs and immigration policies have not manifested in job market declines. By sector, health care added 45,000 jobs in November, manufacturing added 54,000 (bolstered by the return of the GM workers; the overall growth remains flat in the sector) and leisure and hospitality added 45,000 jobs. The latter has added 214,000 over the past four months. 

Other BLS statistics of note: 

  • Long-term unemployed (more than 27 weeks) remained around 1.7 million, or about 20% of the total unemployed.
  • Part-time workers seeking full-time worked remained steady at about 4.3 million.
  • Marginally attached workers (those who want to work, do not have work and have not looked for a job in four weeks) are down to 1.2 million, a reduction of over 400,000 from the previous year.
  • Wages are up 3.1% over the past 12 months.
  • The average workweek for non-farm workers was unchanged at 34.4 hours.
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