November Jobs Report: Unemployment Rises and More Workers Are Unemployed Long-Term

Nationwide—In November, the unemployment rate rose to 4.6% according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Approximately 64,000 jobs were added this month, after a loss of 105,000 jobs in October. Overall, 7.8 million workers were unemployed. Among unemployed workers, 1.9 million were unemployed for 27 weeks or longer: These long-term unemployed workers make up 24.3% of all unemployed workers, up from 20.4% in May.

“As the holidays approach, workers and their families are already struggling to afford the basics,” said Rebecca Dixon, president and CEO of the National Employment Law Project (NELP). “A sluggish job market is adding to the strain. The situation is particularly grim for the growing number of workers who have been unemployed for six months or longer, who have likely exhausted any available unemployment benefits and may be facing dwindling prospects as the job market slows further. Policymakers must act to strengthen unemployment insurance.”

As a result of structural racism, including discrimination in hiring, Black workers in particular face longer average durations of unemployment. This means that when states cut the maximum length of time workers can receive unemployment benefits, Black workers are disproportionately harmed.

The unemployment rate for Black workers was 8.3% in November, compared to 3.9% for white workers. The unemployment rate for Black women rose to 7.1%, up from 5.4% when Trump took office in January. NELP has described how the Trump Administration’s assaults on civil rights protections, attacks on efforts to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the workplace, and cuts to the federal workforce hit Black workers—particularly Black women—especially hard.

As writer Naomi Bethune details in the American Prospect, systemic racism and sexism combine with the administration’s policy choices to worsen affordability challenges for everything from food to medical care, dramatically increasing economic precarity for Black households.

The unemployment rate in November was 5.0% for Latinx workers. Among Asian workers the unemployment rate was 3.6%. Continuing disparities in unemployment rates are a result of structural racism in the U.S. labor market, including occupational segregation.

To strengthen unemployment insurance for workers of all backgrounds, Congress must enact The Unemployment Insurance Modernization and Recession Readiness Act, sponsored Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Representative Don Beyer (D-VA). The bill sets nationwide standards for UI, mandating that states offer at least 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, raising benefit amounts to replace a greater share of workers’ prior earnings, and increasing coverage for part-time workers, temp workers, and workers whose earnings fluctuate over time. The bill also establishes a new, federally funded Jobseekers Allowance to support jobless workers who would not otherwise be covered by unemployment insurance and modernizes the Extended Benefits program that makes additional weeks of unemployment benefits available in times of high unemployment. State policymakers across the country should also act to improve their state unemployment insurance systems to better support workers and the economy.