Puerto Rico's employment continued contracting in November, with the household survey's total employment down 2.1% since July.
The same U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics survey showed that total employment slipped 0.1% from October and 1.6% from November 2015.
The unemployment rate declined in November to 11.9% from 12.1% in October and from 12.2% in November 2015. However, these declines occurred only because fewer people counted as unemployed and not because of employment increases.
The BLS also releases an employment report based on a workplace survey. This showed that total employment fell 0.1% from October and 1.2% from November 2015. The survey indicated that private sector employment was down 0.03% from October and 1.3% since November 2015.
The workplace survey's November total employment and private sector employment figures are now the lowest they have been in the last 10 years.
The November total employment figure in the household survey is the lowest in the last 10 years except for March 2014 to November 2014.
All percentages in this story are based on BLS seasonally-adjusted figures.
