November 2008 Employment Situation

Historical release narrative reproduced from the official public-domain source. Statistical tables, standard technical appendices, administrative material and attendance rosters are omitted; formatting is adapted for reading. Figures retain the release's historical context and may have been revised. Consult the linked source for the complete document.

Nonfarm payroll employment fell sharply (-533,000) in November, and the unemployment rate rose from 6.5 to 6.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. November's drop in payroll employment followed declines of 403,000 in September and 320,000 in October, as revised. Job losses were large and widespread across the major industry sectors in November.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

Both the number of unemployed persons (10.3 million) and the unemploy- ment rate (6.7 percent) continued to increase in November. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, as recently announced by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the number of unemployed persons increased by 2.7 million, and the unemployment rate rose by 1.7 percentage points. (See table A-1.)

The unemployment rates for adult men (6.5 percent) and adult women (5.5 percent) continued to trend up in November. The unemployment rates for teenagers (20.4 percent), whites (6.1 percent), blacks (11.2 percent), and Hispanics (8.6 percent) showed little change over the month. The jobless rate for Asians was 4.8 percent in November, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

Among the unemployed, the number of persons who lost their job and did not expect to be recalled to work increased by 298,000 to 4.7 million in November. Over the past 12 months, the size of this group has increased by 2.0 million. (See table A-8.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 2.2 million in November, but was up by 822,000 over the past 12 months. (See table A-9.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

In November, the labor force participation rate declined by 0.3 percentage point to 65.8 percent. Total employment continued to decline, and the employ- ment-population ratio fell to 61.4 percent. (See table A-1.)

Over the month, the number of persons who worked part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) continued to increase, reaching 7.3 million. The number of such workers rose by 2.8 million over the past 12 months. This category includes persons who would like to work full time but were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find full-time jobs. (See table A-5.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 1.9 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in November, 584,000 more than 12 months earlier. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks pre- ceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 608,000 dis- couraged workers in November, up by 259,000 from a year earlier. Discour- aged workers are persons not currently looking for work specifically be- cause they believe no jobs are available for them. The other 1.3 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in November had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-13.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Total nonfarm payroll employment fell by 533,000 in November, bringing losses to 1. 9 million since the start of the recession in December 2007. Two-thirds of these losses occurred in the last 3 months. In November, employment declined in nearly all major industries, although health care continued to add jobs. (See table B-1.)

In November, employment continued to decline in manufacturing (-85,000), with widespread job losses occurring among the component industries. Manu- facturing employment has declined by 604,000 since December. Within dur- able goods manufacturing, job losses occurred in November in fabricated metal products (-15,000), machinery (-11,000), wood products (-9,000), furniture and related products (-7,000), primary metals (-7,000), and com- puter and electronic products (-7,000). Employment in transportation equipment edged up, as a return of 27,000 aerospace workers from strike more than offset a job loss in motor vehicle and parts (-13,000). In the nondurable goods component, job losses occurred in plastics and rubber products (-12,000), printing and related support activities (-5,000), and textile mills (-5,000).

Employment in construction fell by 82,000 in November, with losses oc- curring throughout the industry. Since peaking in September 2006, con- struction employment has decreased by 780,000. Specialty trade contrac- tors lost 50,000 jobs in November, with both residential and nonresiden- tial components contributing to the decline.

Within professional and business services, the employment services industry lost 101,000 jobs over the month, bringing total job losses since December to 495,000. In November, employment fell by 10,000 in architectural and engineering services.

Employment in retail trade fell by 91,000 in November. Job losses continued in automobile dealerships (-24,000). Employment in the indus- try has fallen by 115,000 since December, with much of the decrease oc- curring over the last 2 months. In several other retail industries, sea- sonal hiring for the holidays fell short of normal in November. After seasonal adjustment, employment declined in clothing and accessories stores (-18,000); sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores (-11,000); and furniture and home furnishing stores (-10,000). Wholesale trade em- ployment was down by 25,000 over the month, with most of the decrease among durable goods wholesalers.

Employment in leisure and hospitality declined by 76,000 in November, with most of the decline occurring in accommodation and food services (-54,000). Since peaking in April 2008, accommodation and food services has lost 150,000 jobs.

In November, employment in financial activities continued to decline (-32,000). Within the industry, job losses occurred in credit intermedi- ation and related activities (-16,000) and in rental and leasing services (-9,000). Job losses in financial activities have accelerated over the last 3 months, bringing the total decline since December to 142,000.

Elsewhere in the service-providing sector, employment in transporta- tion and warehousing declined by 32,000 in November, with most of the losses in truck transportation (-12,000) and couriers and messengers (-8,000). The information industry lost 19,000 jobs over the month.

Health care employment grew by 34,000 in November. Over the past 12 months, health care has added 369,000 jobs.

The change in total nonfarm employment for September was revised from -284,000 to -403,000, and the change for October was revised from -240,000 to -320,000. In both months, there were large revisions in most of the major industry sectors. These revisions resulted primarily because of the normal monthly recalculation of seasonal factors rather than the incorpora- tion of additional sample reports.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

In November, the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.1 hour to 33.5 hours, sea- sonally adjusted--the lowest in the history of the series, which began in 1964. Both the manufacturing workweek and factory overtime fell by 0.2 hour over the month, to 40.3 and 3.3 hours, respectively. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory workers on nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.9 percent in November. The manu- facturing index declined by 1.4 percent. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

In November, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 7 cents, or 0.4 percent. This followed gains of 6 cents in October and 3 cents in September. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings increased by 3.7 percent, and average weekly earnings rose by 2.8 percent. (See table B-3.)