Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release — 2013-12-06

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. The unemployment rate declined from 7.3 percent to 7.0 percent in November, and nonfarm payroll employment rose by 203,000. Employment rose in transportation and warehousing, health care, and manufacturing. Incorporating the revisions for September and October, which increased employment growth by 8,000 on net, monthly job gains have averaged 193,000 over the past 3 months. Transportation and warehousing employment increased by 31,000 over the month, with gains in couriers and messengers (+9,000), truck transportation (+8,000), warehousing and storage (+5,000), and air transportation (+3,000). Health care added 28,000 jobs in November and has added an average of 19,000 jobs per month thus far this year. Monthly job gains in 2012 averaged 27,000 in the industry.