In November the country lost 27,000 construction jobs. Though employment in the field did decline, the rate of job loss improved when compared to prior months. Before November, job losses in the field averaged 117,000 a month in the six months prior to the end of April, and from May through October fell at an average rate of 63,000 a month.
"In November, construction job losses were concentrated among nonresidential specialty trade contractors," the BLS stated.
Along with construction work, manufacturing employment decreased in November. For the month, 41,000 manufacturing jobs were lost, which is a bit better than the 46,000 average seen during the previous five months. Since the beginning of the recession in December 2007, 2.1 million manufacturing jobs have been lost by the U.S.
Most of the drop in manufacturing employment has been experienced by the durable goods field, which has lost 1.6 million jobs since the beginning of the economic downturn.
Though the number of manufacturing jobs saw a decline in November, the previous month saw the value of shipments for new manufactured goods increased $2.1 billion to $360.5 billion. Furthermore, construction equipment increased 0.7 percent in October.
