Payroll employment increases in November 2012

In November, total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 146,000. Since the beginning of this year, employment growth has averaged 151,000 per month, about the same as the average monthly job gain of 153,000 in 2011.

Retail trade employment rose by 53,000 in November and has increased by 140,000 over the past 3 months. Over the month, job gains occurred in clothing and clothing accessory stores (+33,000), in general merchandise stores (+10,000), and in electronics and appliance stores (+9,000). Employment in miscellaneous store retailers decreased by 13,000.

In November, employment in professional and business services rose by 43,000. Employment continued to increase in computer systems design and related services.

Health care (part of education and health services) employment continued to increase in November (+20,000), with gains in hospitals (+8,000) and in nursing care facilities (+5,000). Health care has added an average of 26,000 jobs per month this year.

Employment in construction declined by 20,000 in November, with much of the loss occurring in construction of buildings (−11,000).

Manufacturing employment changed little over the month. Within the industry, job losses in food manufacturing (−12,000) and chemicals (−9,000) more than offset gains in motor vehicles and parts (+10,000) and wood products (+3,000).

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent two months are preliminary. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation — November 2012," (HTML) (PDF) news release USDL-12-2366. More charts featuring CES employment data can be found in Current Employment Statistics Highlights: November 2012 (PDF).