Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release — 2017-12-08

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. Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 228,000 in November, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent. Employment continued to trend up in professional and business services, manufacturing, and health care. Employment growth has averaged 174,000 per month thus far this year, compared with an average monthly gain of 187,000 in 2016. Incorporating revisions for September and October, which increased nonfarm payroll employment by 3,000 on net, monthly job gains have averaged 170,000 over the past 3 months. In November, employment in professional and business services continued to trend up (+46,000). This is in line with the average monthly gain for the industry over the past 2 years. Manufacturing added 31,000 jobs in November.