Compared with a year earlier, the November unemployment rate showed a drop of 0.08 of a percentage point, the same tallies indicated.

In the first 11 months of the year, the island’s average jobless rate reached 3.91 percent, also the lowest level of its kind for the same period in six years and down 0.24 of a percentage point from a year earlier.

DGBAS tallies indicated that 410,000 people were unemployed in November, representing a decrease of 3,000 people from the number posted in October.

The average jobless duration reached 23.2 weeks in November, down 1.7 weeks from October. The average unemployment period for first-time job seeks stood at 20.4 weeks in November, for a sharp reduction of 4.7 weeks from October; and the corresponding non-first-time job seeks stood at 23.8 weeks, down 1.1 weeks from October.

According to DGBAS statistics, there were 10.207 million people employed in November, showing an increase of 25,000 people over October. The number of the employed average at 10.101 million people in the first 11 months of the year, representing a significant annual increase of 167,000 people.

Gains in employment may help spur consumer spending, which slowed this year as households struggled to repay credit card bills. Private consumption rose in the third quarter at the weakest pace in more than three years.

Export orders, indicative of actual shipments in one to three months, rose 10.6 percent in November from a year earlier.

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