The Employment Situation: November 2006 — 2006-12-08

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 132,000 in November, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 4.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Job gains continued in several service-providing industries, including professional and business services, food services, and health care. Employment declined in construction and manufacturing. Both the number of unemployed persons (6.8 million) and the unemployment rate (4.5 percent) were about unchanged in November. Over the year, these measures have declined from 7.6 million and 5.0 percent, respectively. In November, unemployment rates for all major worker groups--adult men (3.9 percent), adult women (4.0 percent), teenagers (15.1 percent), whites (3.9 per- cent), blacks (8.6 percent), and Hispanics (4.9 percent)--showed little or no change over the month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 3.2 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.) In November, total employment, at 145.6 million, was essentially unchanged, and the employment-population ratio remained at 63.3 percent.