WASHINGTON (AP) — As the U.S. job market improves, it’s also evolving, with winners and
losers.Warehouses and trucking companies are doing more holiday hiring than the stores they’re working
for.Factoryworkers are getting more overtime, while pay is nearly flat for hoteland restaurant employees.
Retirement-age Americans are staying on thejob.And for people who’ve been out of work for more than six
months, the outlook has gone from painful to desperate.Here’s a look at five trends that emerge from the
November employment report released Friday:— HOLIDAY SHOPPINGHiringtypically gets a boost from the holiday
season. But online shopping haschanged the mix. Take a look at transportation and warehouse jobs:Those
sectors added 30,500 jobs in November, the Labor Department said.That’s 50 percent more than the November
2012 increase. These are FedExand UPS gigs—the seasonal workers who ship you the deluxe limited DVDedition
of "Downton Abbey."Amazon alone planned to hire 20,000additional holiday workers this year,
according to the personnel firmChallenger, Gray & Christmas. Last month, the shipping sector
addedmore jobs than brick-and-mortar retailers did. Stores added 24,800, onlyhalf as many as in the previous
year.Still, you might hold offon getting your commercial driver’s license. If Amazon CEO Jeff Bezoscan
deliver on his now-famous dream, many of those shipping jobs couldeventually flow to Bezos’ armada of
drones.— DEATH OF FACTORIES GREATLY EXAGGERATEDThere’sbeen a lot of handwringing about the plight of
manufacturing. Factoryorders have tumbled in recent months, government reports show. Butindustry surveys
show that assembly lines are still cranking away.Friday’sjobs report suggests that factories are booming.
Manufacturers added27,000 jobs. The result is that total factory employees cracked the 12million mark for
the first time since 2009. What’s more, factory workersare averaging 4.5 hours of overtime each week, an
increase of nearly 10percent over the year. We’re talking more cars, more steel, moremachinery — and more
spillover effects that boost other sectors, liketransportation and technology.— GRAYER
WORKERSTheunemployment rate is just 4.9 percent for Americans older than 65,compared with 7 percent for
adults as a whole. Dating to November 2012,the number of senior citizens who either have a job or are
looking forone has grown by nearly half a million to 7 million.In somecases, they kept working after they
reached retirement age because theirnest egg vanished during the financial crisis. There’s another
factor,too: Social Security. To receive full Social Security benefits,Americans now have to wait until age
66, instead of 65.— STAGNANT PAY AT THE BOTTOMRestaurantsand hotels created nearly 16 percent of the jobs
added over the past 12months. Those industries are known for paying low wages to their frycooks and cleaning
staff. Fast food chains like McDonald’s have been atthe epicenter of a battle over low wages, with employees
around thecountry last week staging walkouts.Restaurants and hotels added361,000 workers this year. And
basic economic theory says greater demandfor workers usually leads to higher pay.So how much didrestaurants
and hotels have to raise pay to attract people in November?Just 15 cents an hour to $11.80. Based on the
average number of hoursthe industry’s employees work each week, that wage is roughly at thepoverty line for
a parent and child. And since September, leisureindustry wages have actually dipped 3 cents an hour.—
LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYEDEvenas the number of unemployed Americans has fallen nearly 350,000 in thepast two
months, the ranks of the long-term unemployed have barelybudged. They number about 4.1 million. And they’re
not catching manybreaks. Companies are shying away from hiring workers with extended gapsin their
resumes.More than 37 percent of unemployed Americans inNovember have been out of work for half a year or
more, a higherproportion than in October. If most of these Americans continue to beviewed as unemployable,
that trend will hold back the economy’s growth.WhiteHouse officials and Democrats in Congress argue that
such figuresillustrate the need for extended unemployment benefits, which are set toexpire Dec. 28. The
extended benefits program provides 28 extra weeksin most states, paid for by the federal government, on top
of the 26weeks typically available.If that program lapses, 1.3 millionpeople will immediately lose benefits.
An additional 800,000 would do soin the first two months of 2014. The White House and Democrats onCapitol
Hill have stepped up their support for extending the extrabenefits as part of budget talks.Copyright 2013
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