266,000 New Jobs

The U.S. economy added 266,000 jobs in November, bringing the total to 6.6 million new jobs since January 2017.

Unemployment Rate Drops to 50-Year Low

The unemployment rate dropped to 3.5% in November, matching September 2019 which was the lowest since 1969.

Wage Growth Continues

Average hourly earnings increased by 3.1% year-over-year in November, the 16th straight month that wages grew at or above 3.0%. Wages grew even faster in the retail trade and leisure and hospitality sectors.

USMCA and Jobs

In Michigan last week, U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia and Rep. Tim Walberg discussed workforce development and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). They met with students, workers, and manufacturers and discussed how the USMCA would create 176,000 new jobs in the United States.

In Case You Missed It

Record Recovery

For the second year in a row, the Department recovered a record amount of back wages for workers over $322 million for more than 313,000 workers.

National Miners Day

The Department honored our nation's miners for the important work they do to extract resources that fuel our economy.

Billions Restored

In FY 2019, the Department helped restore more than $2.5 billion to employee benefit plans, participants, and beneficiaries.

Jobless Claims at 7-Month Low

Initial jobless claims dropped by 10,000 to 203,000 last week, the lowest in more than seven months.

Fraud Sentence

A healthcare company owner was convicted on multiple counts of fraud and identity theft, and must restore $6.03 million to the government.

Overtime Pay

A Florida plumbing company paid $145,297 in back wages and damages to 46 workers after Department investigators found overtime violations.

Stat of the Week

Keeping Workers Safe

OSHA conducted 33,401 inspections in fiscal year 2019 and trained a record 1,392,611 workers. The agency also protected 3.2 million workers through its on-site consultation program.

Compliance Assistance Highlight

Wage Assistance

The Fair Labor Standards Act compliance assistance toolkit answers common questions about the federal wage law.