Dec 5, 2008

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November Jobs Report: Over 1/2 Million Jobs Cut

In what seems to be a recurring theme, the country shed a much higher number of jobs than analysts predicted.  

According to the Department of Labor, 533,000 jobs were eliminated in the month of November.   That’s the highest number of monthly layoffs in 34 years.  The bright side is that the workforce started out 50% larger than it was in the mid-80′s, which means the percentage of job losses is not as great.  

Still.

The employment rate – with the new numbers factored in – ticked up 0.2% to rest at 6.7% nationwide.  And According to NPR, that number may be the most misleading of all:

The 6.7 percent unemployment rate actually underestimates the number of people hurt by the declining jobs market, because it doesn’t include people who have given up searching for work or part-timers who would like to work full time, [Economics Professor Sung Won] Sohn said. The report says more than 400,000 people left the labor market this year because they believe no jobs are available, he said.

When those people are included, the effective unemployment rate is really 12.5 percent, Sohn said.

No sector is immune, which was evidenced by the fact that “professional and business services” sector led the job cuts with 101,000.  Manufactuing and hospitality cut above 80,000 and 70,000 jobs, respecively. Keep in mind these numbers don’t count the layoff announcements made in the past few days, including AT&T, DuPont and NBC Universal.

In December of 1974 – the middle of the oil embargo – the country lost over 600,000 jobs.