Transmission of material in this release is embargoed USDL-10-1662
until 8:30 a.m. (EST) Friday, December 3, 2010
Technical information:
Household data: (202) 691-6378 * cpsinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/cps
Establishment data: (202) 691-6555 * cesinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/ces
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- NOVEMBER 2010
The unemployment rate edged up to 9.8 percent in November, and nonfarm payroll
employment was little changed (+39,000), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported today. Temporary help services and health care continued to add jobs
over the month, while employment fell in retail trade. Employment in most major
industries changed little in November.
Household Survey Data
The number of unemployed persons was 15.1 million in November. The unemployment
rate edged up to 9.8 percent; it was 9.6 percent in each of the prior 3 months.
(See table A-1.)
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (10.0 per-
cent), adult women (8.4 percent), whites (8.9 percent), and Hispanics (13.2 per-
cent) edged up in November. The jobless rate for blacks (16.0 percent) showed
little change over the month, while the rate for teenagers declined to 24.6 per-
cent. The jobless rate for Asians was 7.6 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See
tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed tempor-
ary jobs rose by 390,000 to 9.5 million in November. The number of long-term un-
employed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was little changed at 6.3 million
and accounted for 41.9 percent of the unemployed. (See tables A-11 and A-12.)
The civilian labor force participation rate held at 64.5 percent in November, and
the employment-population ratio was essentially unchanged at 58.2 percent. (See
table A-1.)
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred
to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed over the month at 9.0 mil-
lion. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut
back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)
About 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in November,
up from 2.3 million a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These
individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and
had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as un-
employed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the sur-
vey. (See table A-16.)
Among the marginally attached, there were 1.3 million discouraged workers in
November, an increase of 421,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not season-
ally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work
because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.2 million
persons marginally attached to the labor force had not searched for work in the
4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family
responsibilities. (See table A-16.)
Establishment Survey Data
Total nonfarm payroll employment changed little in November (+39,000). Job gains
continued in temporary help services and in health care, while employment fell in
retail trade. Since December 2009, total payroll employment has increased by an
average of 86,000 per month. (See table B-1.)
Within professional and business services, employment in temporary help services
continued to increase in November (+40,000) and has risen by 494,000 since Septem-
ber 2009.
Health care continued to add jobs over the month, with a gain of 19,000. Much of
the increase occurred in hospitals (+8,000).
Employment in mining continued to trend up over the month. Support activities for
mining added 6,000 jobs in November and has added 74,000 jobs since October 2009.
Retail trade employment fell by 28,000 in November. Job losses occurred in depart-
ment stores (-9,000) and in furniture and home furnishings stores (-5,000).
Employment in manufacturing was little changed over the month (-13,000). Following
job growth earlier in 2010, employment has been relatively flat, on net, since May.
Employment in most other major industries changed little in November.
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls held at 34.3
hours in November. The manufacturing workweek for all employees also was unchanged,
at 40.3 hours, and factory overtime remained at 3.1 hours. The average workweek for
production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased by
0.1 hour to 33.5 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)
In November, average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls
increased by 1 cent to $22.75. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings
have increased by 1.6 percent. In November, average hourly earnings of private-sec-
tor production and nonsupervisory employees were unchanged at $19.19. (See tables
B-3 and B-8.)
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for September was revised from -41,000
to -24,000, and the change for October was revised from +151,000 to +172,000.
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The Employment Situation for December is scheduled to be released on Friday,
January 7, 2011, at 8:30 a.m. (EST).
__________________________________________________________________________
| |
| Revision of Seasonally Adjusted Household Survey Data |
| |
|In accordance with usual practice, The Employment Situation release for |
|December 2010, scheduled for January 7, 2011, will incorporate annual |
|revisions in seasonally adjusted unemployment and other labor force |
|series from the household survey. Seasonally adjusted data for the most |
|recent 5 years are subject to revision. |
| |
|__________________________________________________________________________|
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| |
| Upcoming Changes to Establishment Survey Data |
| |
|Effective with the release of January 2011 data on February 4, 2011, the |
|establishment survey will begin estimating net business birth/death ad- |
|justment factors on a quarterly basis, replacing the current practice of |
|estimating the factors annually. This will allow the establishment sur- |
|vey to incorporate information from the Quarterly Census of Employment |
|and Wages into the birth/death adjustment factors as soon as it becomes |
|available and thereby improve the factors. Additional information on this |
|change is available at www.bls.gov/ces/ces_quarterly_birthdeath.pdf. |
| |
|__________________________________________________________________________|
__________________________________________________________________________
| |
| Upcoming Changes to Household Survey Data |
| |
|Effective with the release of January 2011 data on February 4, 2011, two |
|additional data series--"Self-employed workers, unincorporated" and "Self-|
|employed workers, incorporated"--will be added to table A-9. As a result, |
|the format of table A-9 will change. Data on the incorporated self-employ-|
|ed have not previously been published on a regular basis. |
| |
|Also, in table A-8, the data series currently labeled "Self-employed work-|
|ers" (one for Agriculture and related industries and one for Nonagricul- |
|tural industries) will be renamed "Self-employed workers, unincorporated."|
|This is strictly a change in title and not in definition; the data shown |
|will not be affected. This change is being made to clarify that these data|
|only include persons operating unincorporated businesses. A similar title |
|change will be made to one data series in table A-14. |
| |
|In addition, a change affecting data collected on unemployment duration |
|will be introduced in the household survey in January 2011. Presently, |
|the Current Population Survey can record unemployment durations of up to |
|2 years. Starting with data collected for January 2011, respondents will |
|be table to report unemployment durations of up to 5 years. This change |
|will likely affect one data series in this news release: the average |
|(mean) duration of unemployment, which is found in table A-12. The change |
|does not affect the estimate of total unemployment or other data series on|
|duration of unemployment. Additional information is available at |
|www.bls.gov/cps/duration.htm. |
| |
|Beginning with data for January 2011, occupation estimates in table A-13 |
|will reflect the introduction of the 2010 Census occupation classification|
|system into the household survey. This occupation classification system is|
|derived from the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification system. Histor-|
|ical data will not be revised. |
| |
|__________________________________________________________________________|
