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 

John M. Galvin 

Acting Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, December 7, 2012 

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 146,000 in 

November, and the unemployment rate edged down to 7.7 percent. 

In 2012, job gains have averaged 151,000 per month, essentially 

the same as in 2011. In November, employment rose in retail 

trade, professional and business services, and health care. 

Before providing the details of this month’s data, I would 

like to comment on the impact of Hurricane Sandy on our November 

estimates. On October 29, the storm made landfall on the 

Northeast coast, causing severe damage in some states. 

Nevertheless, response rates in the affected states were within 

normal ranges in November. Our analysis leads us to conclude 

that Hurricane Sandy did not substantively impact the national 

employment and unemployment estimates for November. We will 

release the November regional and state estimates on December 

21st. 
2 

For weather conditions to reduce the estimate of payroll 

employment, employees have to be off work for an entire pay 

period and not be paid for the time missed. In our household 

survey, persons with a job who miss work for weather-related 

events are counted as employed whether or not they are paid for 

the time off. 

In November, retail trade added 53,000 jobs. Over the past 

3 months, retail trade employment has increased by 140,000. 

Over the month, job gains occurred in clothing and accessories 

stores (+33,000), in general merchandise stores (+10,000), and 

in electronics and appliance stores (+9,000). 

Professional and business services added 43,000 jobs in 

November. Employment continued to increase in computer systems 

design and related services. 

Health care continued to add jobs over the month (+20,000). 

Within this industry, employment rose in hospitals (+8,000) and 

in nursing care facilities (+5,000). 

Wholesale trade employment edged up in November (+13,000). 

Since a recent low in May 2010, wholesale trade has added 

228,000 jobs. Employment in information also edged up (+12,000) 

in November due to a gain in motion picture and sound recording. 

Information employment has changed little, on net, over the past 

12 months. 
3 

Construction employment declined by 20,000 over the month. 

Construction of buildings accounted for much of the decline. 

Manufacturing employment changed little over the month. 

Job losses in food manufacturing (-12,000) and in chemicals 

(-9,000) more than offset gains in motor vehicles and parts 

(+10,000) and in wood products (+3,000). 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls rose by 4 cents in November to $23.63. Over the past 

12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.7 percent. 

From October 2011 to October 2012, the Consumer Price Index for 

All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 2.2 percent. The 

average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls 

remained at 34.4 hours in November. 

Turning to data from our survey of households, the 

unemployment rate edged down to 7.7 percent in November. Of the 

12.0 million unemployed, 40.1 percent had been jobless for 27 

weeks or more in November, about the same as in October. 

The labor force participation rate--the share of the 

population that was working or looking for work--declined to 

63.6 percent in November, offsetting an increase of the same 

amount in October. The employment-population ratio, at 58.7 

percent, changed little in November. 

Among persons who were neither working nor looking for work 

in November, 2.5 million were classified as marginally attached 
4 

to the labor force, about unchanged from a year earlier. These 

individuals 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 979,000 in 

November, little changed from a year earlier. 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 146,000 in 

November, and the unemployment rate edged down to 7.7 percent.