Transmission of material in this statement is embargoed until 

8:30 a.m. (ET) Friday, December 3, 2021. 

Statement of 

William W. Beach 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, December 3, 2021

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 210,000 in November, and 

the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 4.2 

percent. Notable job gains occurred in professional and business 

services, transportation and warehousing, construction, and 

manufacturing. Employment in retail trade declined over the 

month. 

Thus far this year, monthly job growth has averaged 

555,000. Employment has increased by 18.5 million since April 

2020 but is down by 3.9 million, or 2.6 percent, from its level 

before the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 

February 2020. 

Employment in professional and business services increased 

by 90,000 in November. Within the industry, employment in the 

professional and technical services component rose by 44,000 

over the month and is 367,000 higher than in February 2020. 

(Professional and technical services includes industries such as 
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management and technical consulting services, scientific 

research and development services, and computer systems design 

and related services.) Employment in the administrative and 

waste services component (which includes temporary help 

services) rose by 42,000 over the month but is 359,000 lower 

than in February 2020. Employment in professional and business 

services overall is down by 69,000 since February 2020. 

Transportation and warehousing added 50,000 jobs in 

November. Employment in the industry is 210,000 above its 

February 2020 level. In November, employment growth was led by 

couriers and messengers (+27,000) and warehousing and storage 

(+9,000). 

In November, job growth continued in construction 

(+31,000). Employment continued to trend up in specialty trade 

contractors (+13,000), construction of buildings (+10,000), and 

heavy and civil engineering construction (+8,000). Construction 

employment is down by 115,000 since February 2020. 

Manufacturing continued to add jobs in November (+31,000). 

Within the durable goods component, miscellaneous durable goods 

manufacturing (+10,000), fabricated metal products (+8,000), and 

electrical equipment and appliances (+3,000) gained jobs. 

Employment declined in motor vehicles and parts (-10,000). 

Machinery lost 6,000 jobs, largely reflecting a strike in the 

industry. In the nondurable goods component, employment 
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increased by 16,000. Overall, manufacturing employment is 

253,000 lower than in February 2020. 

Employment in financial activities continued to trend up in 

November (+13,000) and is 30,000 higher than in February 2020. 

Over the month, job growth occurred in securities, commodity 

contracts, and investments (+9,000). 

Employment in retail trade declined in November (-20,000). 

Job losses occurred in general merchandise stores (-20,000); 

clothing and accessory stores (-18,000); and sporting goods, 

hobby, book, and music stores (-9,000). These losses more than 

offset gains in food and beverage stores (+9,000) and in 

building material and garden supply stores (+7,000). Retail 

trade employment is 176,000 lower than in February 2020. 

In November, employment in leisure and hospitality changed 

little (+23,000), following monthly job gains averaging 271,000 

in the previous 9 months. Employment in the industry is 1.3 

million, or 7.9 percent, lower than in February 2020. 

Health care employment was about unchanged in November 

(+2,000). Within the industry, employment in ambulatory health 

care services continued to trend up (+17,000), while nursing and 

residential care facilities lost 11,000 jobs. Employment in 

health care is 450,000 below its February 2020 level, with 

nursing and residential care facilities accounting for nearly 

all of this loss. 
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Employment also showed little change over the month in 

other major industries--including mining, wholesale trade, 

information, other services, and public and private education. 

In November, the average workweek for all private-sector 

workers increased by 0.1 hour to 34.8 hours. The average 

workweek for manufacturing edged up by 0.1 hour to 40.4 hours. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls increased by 8 cents to $31.03 in November. Over the 

past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 4.8 

percent. 

Turning to the labor market indicators from the household 

survey, the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 

4.2 percent in November. The number of unemployed people 

declined by 542,000 to 6.9 million. These measures are down 

considerably from their April 2020 peaks but remain above their 

February 2020 levels (3.5 percent and 5.7 million, 

respectively). 

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for 

adult men (4.0 percent), adult women (4.0 percent), Whites (3.7 

percent), Blacks (6.7 percent), and Hispanics (5.2 percent) 

declined in November. The jobless rates for teenagers (11.2 

percent) and Asians (3.8 percent) showed little change over the 

month. 
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Among the unemployed, the number of permanent job losers 

declined by 205,000 to 1.9 million in November but is 623,000 

higher than in February 2020. The number of people on temporary 

layoff declined by 255,000 to 801,000 in November. This measure 

is down from a peak of 18.0 million in April 2020 and has nearly 

returned to its February 2020 level of 750,000. 

The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more (often 

referred to as the long-term unemployed) changed little in 

November, at 2.2 million. This measure is about double its 

February 2020 level. In November, the long-term unemployed 

accounted for 32.1 percent of the total unemployed. 

The labor force participation rate edged up to 61.8 percent 

in November. This measure is 1.5 percentage points lower than in 

February 2020. The employment-population ratio rose by 0.4 

percentage point to 59.2 percent in November but is 1.9 

percentage points lower than in February 2020. 

In November, 4.3 million people were working part time for 

economic reasons, little changed from the prior month. The 

number of people working part time for economic reasons is down 

from a peak of 10.9 million in April 2020 and is about the same 

as in February 2020. 

The number of people not in the labor force who currently 

want a job was little changed at 5.9 million in November. This 

measure is down from a peak of 9.9 million in April 2020 but 
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remains higher than the level of 5.0 million in February 2020. 

Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number 

of people marginally attached to the labor force was little 

changed in November at 1.6 million. (People who are marginally 

attached to the labor force had not actively looked for work in 

the 4 weeks prior to the survey but 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 

essentially unchanged at 450,000. 

As in previous months, some workers affected by the 

pandemic who should have been classified as unemployed on 

temporary layoff in November were instead misclassified as 

employed but not at work. Since March 2020, BLS has published an 

estimate of what the unemployment rate would have been had 

misclassified workers been included among the unemployed. 

Repeating this same approach, the seasonally adjusted November 

unemployment rate would have been 0.1 percentage point higher 

than reported. Additional information about the 

misclassification, as well as response rates for both the 

household and establishment surveys, is available on the BLS 

website at www.bls.gov/covid19/employment-situation-covid19-faqnovember-2021.htm. 
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Looking at supplemental pandemic-related measures from the 

household survey (these supplemental data are not seasonally 

adjusted), the share of employed people who teleworked because 

of the coronavirus pandemic was 11.3 percent in November, down 

from 11.6 percent in October. These data refer only to employed 

people who teleworked or worked from home for pay at some point 

in the last 4 weeks specifically because of the pandemic; they 

do not include all instances of telework. 

In November, the number of people who reported that they 

had been unable to work because their employer closed or lost 

business due to the pandemic--that is, they did not work at all 

or worked fewer hours at some point in the last 4 weeks due to 

the pandemic--changed little at 3.6 million. Among those who 

reported in November that they were unable to work because of 

pandemic-related closures or lost business, 15.8 percent 

received at least some pay from their employer for the hours not 

worked, little different from the prior month. 

Among those not in the labor force in November, 1.2 million 

people were prevented from looking for work due to the pandemic, 

little changed from October. (To be counted as unemployed, by 

definition, individuals must either be actively searching for 

work or on temporary layoff.) 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 210,000 in 

November, and the unemployment rate declined to 4.2 percent.