Unemployment Skyrockets to 6.7 Percent

Posted on | December 5, 2008 | No Comments

Continued job losses in the month of November catapulted the national unemployment rate to 6.7 percent, bringing the number of unemployed workers to 10.3 million and the number of jobs lost to 533,000 (net).

The length of time the average worker is unemployed is now 18.8 weeks.  That’s down slightly over last month, likely due to the fact that many people (about 1.9 million) have given up on the job hunt, at least for now.

November’s job losses occurred, as expected, in the manufacturing, construction, retail, leisure and hospitality, and employment services sectors.  Thanks to the continuing bailouts, the financial services sector lost only 32,000 jobs in November.

Most Jobs Lost By Sector (November)

Employment Services	101,000
Retail	91,000
Manufacturing	85,000
Construction	82,000
Hospitality & Leisure	76,000

Bright Spots

While the bright spots in this month’s report seem fewer and dimmer, they’re there.

The unemployment rate for those with a bachelors degree or higher held steady at 3.1 percent (the rate is 10.5% for those without a high school diploma, 6.8% for those with a HS diploma and 5.5% for those with some college or an associate degree).

The healthcare, education, government and mining sectors continued to add jobs.  These sectors added a total of 63,000 jobs, with healthcare bringing in the lion’s share at 34,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate for management (business and financial operations), professional (doctors, lawyers, dentist, pharmacist, etc.) and related occupations is only 3.2 percent.

For those still employed, the average hourly wage crept up by 7 cents.

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