The Labor Department reported December 4 that the U.S. unemployment rate fell slightly to 10.0 percent in November, as did the number of unemployed Americans, which now stands at 15.37 million. In October, the jobless rate was 10.2% and the number of unemployed stood at 15.70 million. On December 3, the Labor Department reported that initial claims for unemployment for the week ending November 28 was 457,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's figure of 462,000, while the more telling four-week moving average of new claims was 481,250, a decrease of 14,250 from the previous week's four-week moving average of 495,500.
In the December 4th report, DOL said that employment in November fell in construction, manufacturing, and information, while temporary help services and healthcare added jobs.
The number of so-called involuntary part-time workers–people working part time for economic reasons–was essentially flat at 9.24 million compared to October's 9.28 million.
