Dec 5: Nonfarm Payrolls Drop Largest in 34 Years

The Unemployment Rate rose to 6.7% in November, from 6.5% in October, in line with the 6.8% estimated rate for the month.  The unemployment rate was highest for teenagers (20.4%) and lowest for adult women (5.5%).  Nonfarm Payrolls decreased by 533,000, by 71%more than the 311,000 decrease that analysts had anticipated, following a 320,000 decline in October, downwardly revised by 80,000 from an originally reported -240,000 change.  This is the largest drop in Nonfarm Payrolls since December of 1974.  In November, job losses continued in all major industrial sectors.  Over the past 12 months, since December 2007, the start of the current recession, the number of unemployed persons increased by 2.7 million, and the unemployment rate rose by 1.7 percentage points.

Some tamer aspects of the employment situation were that Average Hourly Earnings which increased 0.4%, following an upwardly revised 0.3% growth in October (originally reported a 0.2% growth) while the Average Workweek decreased to 33.5 hours from 33.6 hours, by 6 minutes.

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