Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release — 2018-12-07

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 155,000 in November, and the unemployment rate held at 3.7 percent. Job gains occurred in health care, in manufacturing, and in transportation and warehousing. Incorporating revisions for September and October, which decreased nonfarm payroll employment by 12,000 on net, monthly job gains have averaged 170,000 over the past 3 months. Health care employment grew by 32,000 over the month and has expanded by 328,000 over the year. Within the industry, ambulatory health care services (+19,000) and hospitals (+13,000) added jobs in November. Manufacturing employment rose by 27,000 in November, with job gains in chemicals (+6,000) and primary metals (+3,000). Over the past 12 months, manufacturing has added 288,000 jobs.