Transmission of material in this statement is embargoed until 

8:30 a.m. (ET) Friday, December 2, 2022. 

Statement of 

William W. Beach 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, December 2, 2022

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 263,000 in November, and 

the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7 percent. Notable job 

gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, health care, and 

government. Employment declined in retail trade and in 

transportation and warehousing. 

The November gain in nonfarm payroll employment was roughly 

in line with average growth over the prior 3 months (+282,000). 

Monthly job growth thus far in 2022 has averaged 392,000, 

compared with 562,000 per month in 2021. 

 Leisure and hospitality continued to add jobs in November 

(+88,000), with most of the gain occurring in food services and 

drinking places (+62,000). Employment in leisure and hospitality 

has grown by an average of 82,000 per month thus far in 2022, 

less than half of the 2021 average monthly increase of 196,000. 

Leisure and hospitality employment is down by 980,000, or 5.8 

percent, from its pre-pandemic February 2020 level. 
2 

 In November, health care continued to add jobs (+45,000), 

with gains in ambulatory health care services (+23,000), 

hospitals (+11,000), and nursing and residential care facilities 

(+10,000). So far in 2022, health care employment has increased 

by an average of 47,000 per month, well above the average 

monthly gain of 9,000 in 2021. 

 Government employment grew by 42,000 in November, mostly in 

local government (+32,000). Government employment is down by 

461,000, or 2.0 percent, since February 2020. 

 The other services industry added 24,000 jobs in November, 

with a gain in personal and laundry services (+11,000). Other 

services employment has increased by an average of 15,000 per 

month so far this year, compared with 24,000 per month in 2021. 

Employment in other services is below its February 2020 level by 

186,000, or 3.1 percent. 

 In November, employment in social assistance rose by 

23,000, returning to its February 2020 level. Within the 

industry, individual and family services added 17,000 jobs over 

the month. Employment in social assistance has increased by an 

average of 18,000 per month so far this year, compared with the 

2021 average of 13,000 per month. 

Construction employment continued to trend up in November 

(+20,000). Within the industry, nonresidential building added 

8,000 jobs. Construction has added an average of 19,000 jobs per 
3 

month thus far this year, little different from an average of 

16,000 per month in 2021. 

Information employment rose by 19,000 in November. 

Employment in information has increased by an average of 14,000 

per month thus far this year, in line with an average of 16,000 

per month in 2021. 

Manufacturing employment continued to trend up in November 

(+14,000). Employment has increased by an average of 34,000 per 

month thus far this year, little different from an average of 

30,000 per month in 2021. 

 Employment in financial activities continued its upward 

trend in November (+14,000). Job gains occurred in real estate 

and rental and leasing (+13,000) and in securities, commodity 

contracts, and investments (+6,000), while employment fell in 

credit intermediation and related activities (-9,000). 

Employment in financial activities has increased by an average 

of 12,000 per month thus far this year, the same as in 2021. 

 Retail trade employment fell by 30,000 in November. Job 

losses occurred in general merchandise stores (-32,000), 

electronics and appliance stores (-4,000), and furniture and 

home furnishings stores (-3,000). Motor vehicle and parts 

dealers added 10,000 jobs. Retail trade employment has fallen by 

62,000 since August. 
4 

 In November, transportation and warehousing employment 

declined by 15,000. Job losses continued in warehousing and 

storage (-13,000) and in couriers and messengers (-12,000), 

while air transportation added 4,000 jobs. Employment in 

transportation and warehousing has declined by 38,000 since 

July. 

 Employment in professional and business services changed 

little in November (+6,000). Within the industry, an employment 

gain of 28,000 in professional and technical services was 

partially offset by a decline of 11,000 in business support 

services. Job growth in professional and business services has 

averaged 58,000 per month thus far in 2022, down from 94,000 per 

month in 2021. 

Employment changed little over the month in mining and 

wholesale trade. 

 In November, the average workweek for all private-sector 

workers declined by 0.1 hour to 34.4 hours. The average workweek 

for manufacturing declined by 0.2 hour to 40.2 hours. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls increased by 18 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $32.82 in 

November. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have 

increased by 5.1 percent. 

Turning to the labor market indicators from the household 

survey, the unemployment rate remained at 3.7 percent in 
5 

November and has been in a narrow range of 3.5 percent to 3.7 

percent since March. The number of unemployed people, at 6.0 

million, was essentially unchanged over the month. 

In November, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.4 

percent), adult women (3.3 percent), teenagers (11.3 percent), 

Whites (3.2 percent), Blacks (5.7 percent), Asians (2.7 

percent), and Hispanics (3.9 percent) showed little or no 

change. 

Among the unemployed, the number of permanent job losers 

increased by 127,000 to 1.4 million in November. 

The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more, at 

1.2 million in November, changed little. These long-term 

unemployed accounted for 20.6 percent of all unemployed people. 

Both the labor force participation rate, at 62.1 percent, 

and the employment-population ratio, at 59.9 percent, were 

little changed in November. These measures have shown little net 

change since early this year and are each 1.3 percentage points 

below their pre-pandemic values in February 2020. 

In November, the number of people working part time for 

economic reasons was 3.7 million, virtually unchanged from the 

prior month. 

The number of people not in the labor force who currently 

want a job was little changed at 5.6 million in November. This 

measure remains above its February 2020 level of 5.0 million. 
6 

Among those who were not in the labor force but wanted a 

job, the number of people marginally attached to the labor 

force, at 1.5 million, was unchanged in November. (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, at 405,000 in November, changed little. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is discontinuing this 

publication, the monthly Commissioner’s Statement on the 

Employment Situation. (The Employment Situation news release 

will continue to be published.) The final Commissioner’s 

Statement will be issued on January 6, 2023, with the release of 

employment and unemployment statistics for December 2022. The 

content of the Commissioner’s Statement largely repeats the 

analysis presented in The Employment Situation. In addition, BLS 

website traffic data indicate that few people view the 

Commissioner’s Statement in any given month. (Archived 

Commissioner’s Statements on the Employment Situation for 1994-

2022 can be found on our website at www.bls.gov/bls/newsrelease/jec.htm.) 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 263,000 

in November, and the unemployment rate held at 3.7 percent.