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Economic News Release
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Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release

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.
                                
                          Statement of

                         John M. Galvin
                       Acting Commissioner                                
                   Bureau of Labor Statistics
                                
                    Friday, December 7, 2012


     Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 146,000 in November,
and the unemployment rate edged down to 7.7 percent.  In 2012,
job gains have averaged 151,000 per month, essentially the same
as in 2011.  In November, employment rose in retail trade,
professional and business services, and health care.
     
     Before providing the details of this month’s data, I would
like to comment on the impact of Hurricane Sandy on our November
estimates.  On October 29, the storm made landfall on the
Northeast coast, causing severe damage in some states.
Nevertheless, response rates in the affected states were within
normal ranges in November.  Our analysis leads us to conclude
that Hurricane Sandy did not substantively impact the national
employment and unemployment estimates for November.  We will
release the November regional and state estimates on December
21st.
     
     For weather conditions to reduce the estimate of payroll
employment, employees have to be off work for an entire pay
period and not be paid for the time missed.  In our household
survey, persons with a job who miss work for weather-related
events are counted as employed whether or not they are paid for
the time off.
     
     In November, retail trade added 53,000 jobs.  Over the past
3 months, retail trade employment has increased by 140,000.  Over
the month, job gains occurred in clothing and accessories stores
(+33,000), in general merchandise stores (+10,000), and in
electronics and appliance stores (+9,000).
     
     Professional and business services added 43,000 jobs in
November.  Employment continued to increase in computer systems
design and related services.
     
     Health care continued to add jobs over the month (+20,000).
Within this industry, employment rose in hospitals (+8,000) and
in nursing care facilities (+5,000).
     
     Wholesale trade employment edged up in November (+13,000).
Since a recent low in May 2010, wholesale trade has added 228,000
jobs.  Employment in information also edged up (+12,000) in
November due to a gain in motion picture and sound recording.
Information employment has changed little, on net, over the past
12 months.
     
     Construction employment declined by 20,000 over the month.
Construction of buildings accounted for much of the decline.
     
     Manufacturing employment changed little over the month.  Job
losses in food manufacturing (-12,000) and in chemicals
(-9,000) more than offset gains in motor vehicles and parts
(+10,000) and in wood products (+3,000).
     
     Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm
payrolls rose by 4 cents in November to $23.63.  Over the past 12
months, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.7 percent.  From
October 2011 to October 2012, the Consumer Price Index for All
Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 2.2 percent.  The average
workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls remained
at 34.4 hours in November.
     
     Turning to data from our survey of households, the
unemployment rate edged down to 7.7 percent in November.  Of the
12.0 million unemployed, 40.1 percent had been jobless for 27
weeks or more in November, about the same as in October.
     
     The labor force participation rate--the share of the
population that was working or looking for work--declined to 63.6
percent in November, offsetting an increase of the same amount in
October.  The employment-population ratio, at 58.7 percent,
changed little in November.
     
     Among persons who were neither working nor looking for work
in November, 2.5 million were classified as marginally attached
to the labor force, about unchanged from a year earlier.  These
individuals wanted a job, were available for work, and had looked
for a job within the last 12 months.  The number of discouraged
workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no
jobs were available for them, was 979,000 in November, little
changed from a year earlier.
     
     In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 146,000 in
November, and the unemployment rate edged down to 7.7 percent.
     
     
     
     

Last Modified Date: December 07, 2012