(Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

(CNSNews.com) - President Donald Trump frequently points to the strong economy as one of his major accomplishments, and today's employment summary gives him more bragging rights:

The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics says the economy added a whopping 266,000 jobs in November; and for the sixth month in a row, a record number of Americans were counted as employed.

158,593,000 Americans were working in November, the 24th record of Trump's presidency.

The unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a point to 3.5 percent, a 50-year low.

"GREAT JOBS REPORT!" Trump tweeted Friday morning.

In November, the civilian non-institutional population in the United States was 260,020,000. That included all people 16 and older who did not live in an institution (such as a prison, nursing home or long-term care facility).

Of that civilian non-institutional population, 164,404,000 were participating in the labor force, meaning that they either had a job or were actively seeking one during the last month. This resulted in a labor force participation rate of 63.2 percent.

The labor force participation rate has never been higher than 67.3 percent, a level achieved in the early months of 2000. The Trump-era high was set last month at 63.3 percent. Economists say retiring baby boomers account for some of the decline since the turn of the century.

Among the major worker groups, the November unemployment rates for adult men (3.2 percent), adult women (3.2 percent), teenagers (12.0 percent), Whites (3.2 percent), Blacks (5.5 percent), Asians (2.6 percent), and Hispanics (4.2 percent) showed little or no change in November.

In November, notable job gains occurred in health care and in professional and technical services. Employment also increased in manufacturing, reflecting the return of workers from a strike. Employment continued to trend up in leisure and hospitality, transportation and warehousing, and financial activities, while mining lost jobs.

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for September was revised up by 13,000 to +193,000, and the change for October was revised up by 28,000 to +156,000. With these revisions, employment gains in September and October combined were 41,000 more than previously reported, another indication of a strong job market.

In November, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 7 cents to $28.29. Over the last 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased 3.1 percent.

President Trump tweeted on Friday morning: "Stock Markets Up Record Numbers. For this year alone, Dow up 18.65%, S&P up 24.36%, Nasdaq Composite up 29.17%. 'It’s the economy, stupid.'”

2018 Employment Highlights

In a report released three days ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said a total of 166.4 million people, or 64.4 percent of the civilian noninstitutional population, age 16 and over, worked at some point during 2018.

The number of people who experienced some unemployment during 2018 declined by 1.3 million to 13.2 million.

The data derives from information collected in the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey, which is conducted monthly by the U.S. Census Bureau.

BLS notes the following highlights from the 2018 data:

-- The proportion of workers who worked full time, year-round in 2018 was 70.4 percent, up 0.9 percentage point from the prior year.

-- About 2.2 million individuals looked for a job but did not work at all in 2018, compared with 2.4 million in 2017. (Of the 11.0 million individuals who both worked and experienced unemployment in 2018, 21.7 percent had two or more spells of unemployment, up 1.5 percentage points from 2017.)

-- The proportion of men who worked at some time during 2018 was 69.7 percent, little changed from 2017. The proportion of women, however, increased by 0.6 percentage point to 59.4 percent in 2018.

-- Among the major demographic groups, the proportions of Whites (64.7 percent), Blacks (62.4 percent), Asians (64.5 percent), and Hispanics (66.6 percent) who worked at some time during 2018 showed little change from 2017.

-- Among those with work experience in 2018, 80.8 percent usually worked full time, up 0.4 percentage point from a year earlier. The proportion of women who usually worked full time increased 0.9 percentage point over the year to 74.4 percent in 2018. The share of men who usually worked full time was little changed at 86.7 percent. Among those who worked at some point in 2018, Asians (84.7 percent) were more likely to work full time, followed by Blacks (82.4 percent), and Hispanics (81.2 percent), and Whites (80.4 percent).

-- Overall, 168.6 million persons worked or looked for work at some time in 2018, up 1.1 million from the prior year. Of those, 13.2 million experienced some unemployment during 2018, down by 1.3 million from 2017.

The business and economic reporting of CNSNews.com is funded in part with a gift made in memory of Dr. Keith C. Wold.





