Unemployment reached 6.7% in November

The U.S. economy shed 533,000 jobs in November, marking the largest single monthly contraction in the job market in 34 years, according to data from the Department of Labor. Those losses brought the national unemployment rate to 6.7%, marking the highest reading since October 1993. The reading was 6.5% in October. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com Inc. of Chicago had estimated that 335,000 job would be lost, while they expected the unemployment rate to be 6.8%. The November job losses were the largest since December 1974, when the economy let go of 602,000 jobs. Additionally, October's job losses were revised upward to 320,000, compared to the loss of 240,000 jobs originally reported. September's job losses were revised upward to 403,000 from the 284,000 originally reported. The economy has lost 1.9 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, including 1.26 million jobs during the past three months. The number of unemployed people now stands at 10.3 million. “The loss of jobs is sobering and if you add it to the significant revisions for September and October unemployment rates, it is evidence of a severe economic contraction,” said Robert Dye, a senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. in Pittsburgh. “We are still in for many months of significant job losses.” Looking ahead, he expects the unemployment rate to be 7.5% by the end of the first quarter of 2009. Nearly two-thirds of the losses came in the service-providing sector, which shed 370,000 jobs in November. Goods-producing industries let go of 163,000 jobs, which included 85,000 job losses in the manufacturing sector. Construction employment was down 82,000. On a bright note, the health care and education sectors added 52,000 jobs and the government added 7,000 positions. The length of the workweek fell to 33.5 hours, marking the shortest workweek since 1964. Hourly earnings increased 7 cents, or 0.4%, to $18.30 per hour.