- Current rate is 4.2 percent
- Unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage points
- Employment in retail trade and health care declined
- Unemployment rate was 3.5 percent in February 2020 (prior to the coronavirus pandemic
- 11.3 percent employed persons continue to work remotely
- Average hourly earnings have increased by 4.8 percent since November 2020.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report for November 2021 on December 3. According to the report, the U.S. unemployment rate continues to fall from the April 2020 pandemic high, reaching 4.2 percent. This is a decline of 0.4 percentage points. The rate is significantly below the April 2020 pandemic recession high of 14.8 percent. The rate remains higher than the February 2020 low of 3.5 percent.
While many sectors saw improvement, employment in retail trade declined by 20,000 in November. The employment is 176,000 lower than the February 2020 numbers.
Employment in health care is down by 450,000 since February 2020. The majority of the losses is due to nursing and residential care facilities, which lost 11,000 jobs the month of November.
The next employment update is scheduled for January 7, 2022. As typical, the report will adjust the November and October numbers.