The transportation sector with the highest employment increase was “support activities for transportation”, which had 653,700 jobs in November, compared to 647,500 in October.
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The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate stayed flat at 5 percent in November. The increase is in line with the average monthly gain of 237,000 over the prior 12 months, according to the BLS.
November’s gains came in construction (46,000), professional and technical services (28,000), health care (24,000), food and drink places (32,000), and retail (31,000).
For Asian workers 16 years and over, the rate of unemployment in November was 3.9%, slightly up from 3.5% in October, but still lower than white unemployment and far lower than black unemployment. The jobs report “is a bright green signal for the Fed to go ahead and move in December”, and indicates future rate increases should proceed at a “moderate pace”. The DOL also downwardly revised the preliminary figures reported last month for October, noting now a 900-job loss in the trucking industry for the month rather than a 400-job gain. “We expect wage growth to significantly accelerate in such a scenario”.
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Over the past year, five New England states recorded statistically significant unemployment rate decreases, with declines ranging from 1.7% in Rhode Island to 0.5% in Vermont.
