Key Points:
- Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 210,000 in November as the unemployment rate fell 0.4% to 4.2%.
- Consensus among economists was a gain of 550,000 jobs.
- Nonfarm employment is down by 3.9 Million from pre-pandemic levels in February 2020.
- Manufacturing employment rose by 31,000, but is still down 253,000 from its level in February 2020.
- Employment in professional and business services added 90,000 jobs, transportation and warehousing increased by 50,000, and leisure and hospitality increased by 23,000 in November.
- In November, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 8 cents to $31.03.
- The average workweek for all private employees decreased by 0.1 hours to 34.8 hours in November.
- The labor force participation rate edged up to at 61.8% in November and is 1.5% lower than February 2020.