Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation — 2005-12-02

Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press under lock-up conditions with the explicit understanding that the data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 215,000 in November, and the unemployment rate, at 5.0 percent, was unchanged over the month. The November employment increase follows little job growth in September (+17,000) and October (+44,000), as revised. The September weakness was clearly associated with the devastating direct effects of Hurricane Katrina, and it is possible that October�s job growth was held down somewhat by the indirect effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. To put the November increase in perspective, from January through August of this year, payroll employment growth averaged 196,000 per month. Looking at some of the industry detail from the payroll survey, there were over-the-month gains across a wide array of industries. Construction employment rose by 37,000 in November, following a gain of 35,000 in October.