Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Vice Chair of the Joint Economic Committee, issued the following statement regarding the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ November 2008 employment situation, which showed that the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent and nonfarm payrolls fell by 533,000 jobs. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the economy has lost over two million private sector jobs, but due to government hiring, the economy overall has lost only 1.9 million jobs.

“Today’s jobless numbers take your breath away. The potential employment consequences if one or more of the Big Three Detroit automakers fails should be front and center as Congress debates an aid package for the ailing industry. Estimates show that millions of jobs – including vehicle assembly, parts manufacturing, suppliers, and neighborhood retailers – are potentially at risk,” Maloney said.

“The ripples of the automakers’ collapse could be felt far and wide. Some economists are already calling this ‘the Great Recession’ because they fear it may be longer and deeper than any recession in recent history. This recession requires solutions that address the magnitude of our economic woes. In January, Congress will send our new President a substantial recovery package that makes investments in our future and puts Americans back to work as quickly as possible,” she concluded.

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BACKGROUND:
Highlights from the Bureau of Labor Statistics November 2008 employment situation.

The economy continues to shed jobs. November marked the eleventh straight month of job losses for nonfarm payrolls. In November, the economy lost 533,000 jobs, bringing the total job losses since the recession began to 1.9 million. The private sector has shed jobs for 12 straight months with losses totaling 2.1 million. The last time the economy lost this many jobs in a single month was December 1974. The job losses for September and October were also revised upward sharply to 403,000 and 320,000 respectively.

Job losses have accelerated sharply. Over the past three months, the economy has lost an average of 419,000 jobs per month, compared to an average loss of 82,000 per month from January to August. Job losses have spread throughout economy, with about two-thirds of the job losses over the last three months occurring in the service–providing sector of the economy.

The unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent. The last time unemployment was this high was 15 years ago, in 1993. In November, 10.3 million people were unemployed, and nearly 6.1 million of those (58.4 percent) lost their jobs involuntarily. There are over 3.1 million more unemployed workers than there were a year ago.

The share of the population with a job has fallen over the past year. The share of the population with a job fell to 61.4 percent in November, the lowest since October 1992. Among men, the employment rate has fallen more than two full percentage points over the past 12 months, down to 67.5 percent.

Workers are increasingly unable to find full-time jobs. There are 2.8 million more people working part-time than a year ago because they cannot find a full-time job. There are 608,000 workers who are out of the labor force because they are discouraged – 259,000 more workers than a year ago.

More workers are relying on unemployment benefits. In the week ending November 29, there were 509,000 people who began claiming unemployment benefits. The 4-week moving average was 524,500, an increase of 6,250 from the previous week's revised average of 518,250. The last time the 4-week moving average was this high was in 1982.

Hours fall to historic lows. Hours worked fell to 33.5 hours per week last month, the lowest on record. Manufacturing overtime has fallen to 3.3 hours per week, down sharply from its peak of 5.3 hours per week in late 1997; it is now lower than it was during the 2001 recession.

Unemployment continued its upward trend. Among men aged 20 and over, unemployment increased 0.2 percentage points last month, up to 6.5 percent. This is higher than at any time since 1993. Black unemployment is now at 11.2 percent and teen unemployment is at 20.4 percent.

The Joint Economic Committee, established under the Employment Act of 1946, was created by Congress to review economic conditions and to analyze the effectiveness of economic policy.