The US Department of Labor announced Friday that employers only added 39,000 jobs last month, compared with 172,000 jobs added in October, bringing the US unemployment rate up to 9.8 percent, 0.2 higher than October's figure, and the highest level in seven months.
The construction sector took the biggest hit last month losing another 5,000 jobs since October and raising the unemployment to 18.8 percent, a huge jump from the 17.3 percent construction unemployment rate in October.
The construction sector has continued to lose jobs during the past twelve months even as overall private employment has picked up. Since November 2009, the industry has lost 117,000 jobs while the private sector added 1.08 million jobs. The industry's 18.8 percent unemployment rate, not seasonally adjusted, also was the highest of any industry and roughly double the overall unemployment rate.