November Jobs Report Shows Decrease in Unemployment and Labor Force Participation Rates

Written By ESR News Blog Editor Thomas Ahearn

The unemployment rate in the United States decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 4.6 percent while the economy added 178,000 jobs in November of 2016, according to the Employment Situation report released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The U.S. unemployment rate – at 4.6 percent – is the lowest since 2007 before the Great Recession. However, the civilian labor force participation rate – at 62.7 percent – is at a 40-year low, which means a record number of Americans – 95 million people – are not in the workforce.

The jobs report revealed the number of unemployed persons declined by 387,000 to 7.4 million in November of 2016. Thus far in 2016, employment growth has averaged 180,000 jobs per month, compared with an average monthly increase of 229,000 jobs per month in 2015.

• Professional and business services employment rose by 63,000 jobs in November 2016.
• Health care employment added 28,000 jobs in November 2016.
• Construction employment added 19,000 jobs in November 2016.

The jobs report also showed employment in other industries including mining, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, leisure and hospitality, and government changed little over the month.

The report revised the change in September from 191,000 jobs added to 208,000 jobs added and the change in October from 161,000 jobs added to 142,000 jobs added. With these revisions, employment gains in September and October were 2,000 less than previously reported.

The Employment Situation report is usually released on the first Friday of every month. The Employment Situation for December 2016 is scheduled to be released on January 6, 2017. Until then, the current jobs report will be available at www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf.

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