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Transmission of material in this statement is embargoed until 8:30 a.m. (ET) Friday, December 3, 2021. Statement of William W. Beach Commissioner Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday, December 3, 2021 Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 210,000 in November, and the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 4.2 percent. Notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, transportation and warehousing, construction, and manufacturing. Employment in retail trade declined over the month. Thus far this year, monthly job growth has averaged 555,000. Employment has increased by 18.5 million since April 2020 but is down by 3.9 million, or 2.6 percent, from its level before the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in February 2020. Employment in professional and business services increased by 90,000 in November. Within the industry, employment in the professional and technical services component rose by 44,000 over the month and is 367,000 higher than in February 2020. (Professional and technical services includes industries such as management and technical consulting services, scientific research and development services, and computer systems design and related services.) Employment in the administrative and waste services component (which includes temporary help services) rose by 42,000 over the month but is 359,000 lower than in February 2020. Employment in professional and business services overall is down by 69,000 since February 2020. Transportation and warehousing added 50,000 jobs in November. Employment in the industry is 210,000 above its February 2020 level. In November, employment growth was led by couriers and messengers (+27,000) and warehousing and storage (+9,000). In November, job growth continued in construction (+31,000). Employment continued to trend up in specialty trade contractors (+13,000), construction of buildings (+10,000), and heavy and civil engineering construction (+8,000). Construction employment is down by 115,000 since February 2020. Manufacturing continued to add jobs in November (+31,000). Within the durable goods component, miscellaneous durable goods manufacturing (+10,000), fabricated metal products (+8,000), and electrical equipment and appliances (+3,000) gained jobs. Employment declined in motor vehicles and parts (-10,000). Machinery lost 6,000 jobs, largely reflecting a strike in the industry. In the nondurable goods component, employment increased by 16,000. Overall, manufacturing employment is 253,000 lower than in February 2020. Employment in financial activities continued to trend up in November (+13,000) and is 30,000 higher than in February 2020. Over the month, job growth occurred in securities, commodity contracts, and investments (+9,000). Employment in retail trade declined in November (-20,000). Job losses occurred in general merchandise stores (-20,000); clothing and accessory stores (-18,000); and sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores (-9,000). These losses more than offset gains in food and beverage stores (+9,000) and in building material and garden supply stores (+7,000). Retail trade employment is 176,000 lower than in February 2020. In November, employment in leisure and hospitality changed little (+23,000), following monthly job gains averaging 271,000 in the previous 9 months. Employment in the industry is 1.3 million, or 7.9 percent, lower than in February 2020. Health care employment was about unchanged in November (+2,000). Within the industry, employment in ambulatory health care services continued to trend up (+17,000), while nursing and residential care facilities lost 11,000 jobs. Employment in health care is 450,000 below its February 2020 level, with nursing and residential care facilities accounting for nearly all of this loss. Employment also showed little change over the month in other major industries--including mining, wholesale trade, information, other services, and public and private education. In November, the average workweek for all private-sector workers increased by 0.1 hour to 34.8 hours. The average workweek for manufacturing edged up by 0.1 hour to 40.4 hours. Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 8 cents to $31.03 in November. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 4.8 percent. Turning to the labor market indicators from the household survey, the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 4.2 percent in November. The number of unemployed people declined by 542,000 to 6.9 million. These measures are down considerably from their April 2020 peaks but remain above their February 2020 levels (3.5 percent and 5.7 million, respectively). Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (4.0 percent), adult women (4.0 percent), Whites (3.7 percent), Blacks (6.7 percent), and Hispanics (5.2 percent) declined in November. The jobless rates for teenagers (11.2 percent) and Asians (3.8 percent) showed little change over the month. Among the unemployed, the number of permanent job losers declined by 205,000 to 1.9 million in November but is 623,000 higher than in February 2020. The number of people on temporary layoff declined by 255,000 to 801,000 in November. This measure is down from a peak of 18.0 million in April 2020 and has nearly returned to its February 2020 level of 750,000. The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more (often referred to as the long-term unemployed) changed little in November, at 2.2 million. This measure is about double its February 2020 level. In November, the long-term unemployed accounted for 32.1 percent of the total unemployed. The labor force participation rate edged up to 61.8 percent in November. This measure is 1.5 percentage points lower than in February 2020. The employment-population ratio rose by 0.4 percentage point to 59.2 percent in November but is 1.9 percentage points lower than in February 2020. In November, 4.3 million people were working part time for economic reasons, little changed from the prior month. The number of people working part time for economic reasons is down from a peak of 10.9 million in April 2020 and is about the same as in February 2020. The number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job was little changed at 5.9 million in November. This measure is down from a peak of 9.9 million in April 2020 but remains higher than the level of 5.0 million in February 2020. Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of people marginally attached to the labor force was little changed in November at 1.6 million. (People who are marginally attached to the labor force had not actively looked for work in the 4 weeks prior to the survey but wanted a job, were available for work, and had looked for a job within the last 12 months.) The number of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for them, was essentially unchanged at 450,000. As in previous months, some workers affected by the pandemic who should have been classified as unemployed on temporary layoff in November were instead misclassified as employed but not at work. Since March 2020, BLS has published an estimate of what the unemployment rate would have been had misclassified workers been included among the unemployed. Repeating this same approach, the seasonally adjusted November unemployment rate would have been 0.1 percentage point higher than reported. Additional information about the misclassification, as well as response rates for both the household and establishment surveys, is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/covid19/employment-situation-covid19-faq- november-2021.htm. Looking at supplemental pandemic-related measures from the household survey (these supplemental data are not seasonally adjusted), the share of employed people who teleworked because of the coronavirus pandemic was 11.3 percent in November, down from 11.6 percent in October. These data refer only to employed people who teleworked or worked from home for pay at some point in the last 4 weeks specifically because of the pandemic; they do not include all instances of telework. In November, the number of people who reported that they had been unable to work because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic--that is, they did not work at all or worked fewer hours at some point in the last 4 weeks due to the pandemic--changed little at 3.6 million. Among those who reported in November that they were unable to work because of pandemic-related closures or lost business, 15.8 percent received at least some pay from their employer for the hours not worked, little different from the prior month. Among those not in the labor force in November, 1.2 million people were prevented from looking for work due to the pandemic, little changed from October. (To be counted as unemployed, by definition, individuals must either be actively searching for work or on temporary layoff.) In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 210,000 in November, and the unemployment rate declined to 4.2 percent.