From the BLS:
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 228,000 in November, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. … The unemployment rate held at 4.1 percent in November, and the number of unemployed persons was essentially unchanged at 6.6 million.
…
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for September was revised up from +18,000 to +38,000, and the change for October was revised down from +261,000 to +244,000. With these revisions, employment gains in September and October combined were 3,000 more than previously reported.
…
In November, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 5 cents to $26.55. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 64 cents, or 2.5 percent.
emphasis added
Click on graph for larger image.
The first graph shows the monthly change in payroll jobs, ex-Census (meaning the impact of the decennial Census temporary hires and layoffs is removed – mostly in 2010 – to show the underlying payroll changes).
Total payrolls increased by 228 thousand in November (private payrolls increased 221 thousand).
Payrolls for September and October were revised up by a combined 3 thousand.
This graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968.
In November the year-over-year change was 2.07 million jobs.
The third graph shows the employment population ratio and the participation rate.
The Labor Force Participation Rate was unchanged in November at 62.7%. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force. A large portion of the recent decline in the participation rate is due to demographics.
The Employment-Population ratio decreased to 60.1% (black line).
I’ll post the 25 to 54 age group employment-population ratio graph later.
The fourth graph shows the unemployment rate.
The unemployment rate was unchanged in October at 4.1%.
This was above expectations of 185,000 jobs, and the previous two months combined were revised up slightly.
I’ll have much more later …