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Unemployment rate edges down in November 2012

December 11, 2012

The unemployment rate edged down from 7.9 percent in October to 7.7 percent in November.  The number of unemployed persons, at 12.0 million, changed little.

Number of unemployed and unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, November 2011-November 2012
Number of unemployed and unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, November 2011–November 2012
MonthNumber of unemployedUnemployment rate

Nov 2011

13,323,0008.7

Dec 2011

13,097,0008.5

Jan 2012

12,758,0008.3

Feb 2012

12,806,0008.3

Mar 2012

12,673,0008.2

Apr 2012

12,500,0008.1

May 2012

12,720,0008.2

Jun 2012

12,749,0008.2

Jul 2012

12,794,0008.3

Aug 2012

12,544,0008.1

Sep 2012

12,088,0007.8

Oct 2012

12,258,0007.9

Nov 2012

12,029,0007.7
A year earlier, in November 2011, the unemployment rate was 8.7 percent, and the number of unemployed persons stood at 13.3 million.
Number and percent distribution of unemployed persons, by duration of unemployment, seasonally adjusted, November 2011 and November 2012
Number and percent distribution of unemployed persons, by duration of unemployment, seasonally adjusted, November 2011 and November 2012
Duration of unemploymentNovember 2011November 2012
Number of unemployedPercent distributionNumber of unemployedPercent distribution

Less than 5 weeks

2,510,00019.12,577,00021.6

5 to 14 weeks

2,896,00022.02,747,00023.0

15 to 26 weeks

2,087,00015.81,819,00015.2

27 weeks and over

5,680,00043.14,786,00040.1

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was 4.8 million in November 2012.  These individuals accounted for 40.1 percent of the unemployed.  

In November 2011, there were 5.7 million persons classified as long-term unemployed, accounting for 43.1 percent of the unemployed. 

These data are from the Current Population Survey and are seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation — November 2012," (HTML) (PDF) news release USDL-12-2366.
SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Unemployment rate edges down in November 2012 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2012/ted_20121211.htm (visited October 31, 2024).

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