December 1997 — 1997-12-05

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 comment on the employment and unemployment data that we released this morning. Employment rose sharply in November, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.6 percent. The number of payroll jobs as measured by our establishment survey grew by 404,000 over the month. Gains were widespread in the private sector with especially large increases occurring in services, retail trade, and manufacturing. In the goods-producing sector, construction employment rose by 29,000, despite unusually cold weather during the November survey period. Manufacturing added 44,000 jobs, the third month out of the last four in which it has had a large increase. More than 200,000 manufacturing jobs have been added since the industry�s last employment trough in September 1996.