WASHINGTON – Unemployment rose to a 15-year high of 6.7% in November, as businesses cut 533,000 non-farm jobs, the Department of Labor reported today.
It was the largest one-month job loss since December 1974.The economy has lost 1.9million jobs this year.
November's job losses represented a dramatic increase from the 320,000 losses in October. It was the 11th consecutive month of job losses.
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The number of persons unemployed in November was 10.3 million, up from 10.1 million the previous month. During the past year, the number of unemployed has increased by 2.7million and the unemployment rate has grown by 1.7%.
The department said the unemployment would have been even higher if it had included in the 1.9 million people who have given up seeking work
Wage growth also remained sluggish, Average hourly earnings grew 7 cents, compared with 4 cents in October.
As in October employment increased in government, health care and mining while it decreased in manufacturing, construction, and professional and business services.
Among the largest areas of job losses were: professional/business services, retail, manufacturing, and construction, which lost 101,000, 91,000, and 85,000 and 82,000 jobs, respectively.
The number of people who worked part time out of necessity -because they could not find full-time work– rose to 7.3 million, a 2.8 million increase in the last 12 months.
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