Employment Continues Decline

Employment continued to fall in November, shedding 533,000 jobs - the highest in 34 years - the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reports. The unemployment rate rose from its 14-year high of 6.5 percent in October to 6.7 percent.

November's drop in payroll employment followed declines of 403,000 in September and 320,000 in October. Job losses were large and widespread across the major industry sectors in November, the DOL says.

Both the number of unemployed persons (10.3 million) and the unemployment rate (6.7 percent) continued to increase in November. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, as recently announced by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the jobless number increased by 2.7 million, and the unemployment rate rose by 1.7 percentage points.