The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its monthly employment report this morning. It reported that, for November, the U.S. economy added 146,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate moved down from 7.9 percent to 7.7 percent. This is roughly in line with the average of 151,000 jobs per month that the economy has added on average this year. But the unemployment rate decreased primarily because participation in the labor force decreased last month, whereas it had increased in October causing the rate to rise.
Job numbers from October were revised down 33,000 jobs (from 171,000 to 138,000) and from September were revised down 16,000 (from 148,000 to 132,000).
Most relevant to us, the number of jobs in the architectural and engineering services segment increased by 2,400. That’s up from the 1,500 jobs we saw added in that segment last month. (And there’s about 30,000 more people employed in architectural and engineering services than a year ago.) The construction segment saw a loss of 20,000 jobs in November, and the numbers are comparable to a year ago (about 6,000 fewer employed this November out of a labor force of 5.5 million).
Payroll company ADP also released its employment report this week. That report said that 118,000 jobs were added in November, and 23,000 jobs were added in construction.
You can see more information from the BLS November report in the chart below.
