December 1999 — 1999-12-03

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. Good morning. I am pleased to have this opportunity to discuss the November employment and unemployment estimates that the Bureau of Labor Statistics released this morning. The unemployment rate, as measured by our household survey, was unchanged at 4.1 percent in November and has been below 4.3 percent since August. Nonfarm payroll employment, as measured by our establishment survey, rose by 234,000 in November, in line with average monthly growth for the prior 12 months. In November, employment in the services industry rose by 120,000, following an above-average increase of 172,000 in October. Business services again accounted for a large proportion of the over-the-month increase. Employment in computer and data processing services continued to rise, although the pace of job growth has slowed in recent months.