The Employment Situation: November 1998 — 1998-12-04

Employment increased in November, and the unemployment rate edged down to 4.4 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Nonfarm payroll employment grew by 267,000, with sizable job gains in services, construction, and retail trade more than offsetting another large decline in manufacturing. Both the number of unemployed persons, 6.1 million, and the unemployment rate, 4.4 percent, edged down in November. Over the last 12 months, the jobless rate has ranged from 4.3 to 4.7 percent. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.5 percent) and whites (3.8 percent) edged down, while the rates for adult women (4.1 percent), teenagers (15.1 percent), blacks (8.7 percent), and Hispanics (7.0 percent) showed little change in November. (See tables A-1 and A-2.) The number of persons unemployed for less than 5 weeks decreased by 389,000 to 2.5 million in November, following an increase in October.