Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press 

under lock-up conditions with the explicit understanding that 

the data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Statement of

Philip L. Rones

Acting Commissioner

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Friday, December 7, 2007

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend up in 

November (94,000), and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 

4.7 percent. Job gains continued in professional and technical 

services, food services, and health care, while declines 

continued in industries affected by problems in the housing 

market, including construction and credit intermediation. 

Average hourly earnings increased by 8 cents, or 0.5 percent. 

Professional and technical services employment was up by 

24,000 in November, reflecting growth in computer systems design 

and in management and technical consulting. Employment in 

accounting and bookkeeping services and in architectural 

services also continued to grow over the month. Over the past 

12 months, professional and technical services employment has 

increased by 312,000. 

Food services employment continued to trend up (17,000) in 

November. Over the year, the industry has added 306,000 jobs. 
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Employment in health care grew less in November (15,000) 

than the average for the previous 12 months (34,000). Over the 

month, employment rose in physicians’ offices (7,000) and in 

hospitals (8,000). Employment continued to trend up over the 

month in social assistance. 

Retail trade employment edged up by 24,000 in November. On 

net, employment in the industry has shown essentially no change 

since the spring. Over the month, there were employment gains 

in clothing stores, health and personal care stores, electronics 

and appliance stores, and furniture and home furnishings stores. 

Partly offsetting these gains, general merchandise stores lost 

11,000 jobs. 

Construction employment fell by 24,000 in November and by 

163,000 since peaking in September 2006. Reflecting 

difficulties in the housing market, job declines continued in 

the residential components of the construction industry. In 

contrast, employment in nonresidential specialty trades changed 

little in November, but the industry has added 48,000 jobs over 

the past 12 months. 

Also reflecting weakness in the housing market and mortgage 

lending, employment in credit intermediation declined by 13,000

in November. The industry has lost 75,000 jobs since employment 

peaked in February. Real estate employment also declined in 

November. 
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Employment in manufacturing continued its downward trend in 

November (-11,000). Job losses continued in two industries 

closely tied to housing--wood products and nonmetallic mineral 

products (such as concrete and glass). In contrast, machinery 

manufacturing continued to add jobs (4,000). Average weekly 

hours of production workers in manufacturing edged up by 0.1 

hour in November to 41.3 hours, and factory overtime was 

unchanged at 4.1 hours. 

Average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory 

workers in the private nonfarm sector increased by 8 cents, or 

0.5 percent, in November. This followed gains of 4 cents in 

September and 1 cent in October.

Looking at measures from our survey of households, the 

number of unemployed persons was 7.2 million in November, and 

the unemployment rate held at 4.7 percent. Total employment 

rose by 696,000. This measure, which can be more variable than 

the measure from our payroll survey, showed little growth, on 

net, from December 2006 to October 2007. The employmentpopulation ratio rose by 0.3 percentage point in November to 

63.0 percent; it was still down from its most recent peak of 

63.4 percent in December 2006. 

In summary, payroll employment growth continued in several 

service-providing industries in November. These gains continued 

to be partly offset by job losses in construction and other 
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industries affected by the problems in home building and 

financing. The unemployment rate held at 4.7 percent.