It's only the fourth time in the past 58 years that payrolls have fallen by more than 500,000 in a month. Since the recession began 11 months ago, a total of 1.9 million jobs have been lost. Job losses in September and October were revised much lower.
In addition to the 533,000 lost jobs, an additional 621,000 workers were pushed into part-time work and 422,000 simply dropped out of the labor force.
"This is almost indescribably terrible," wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics. "The pace of job losses is accelerating alarmingly."
Over the past three months, 1.26 million jobs have been lost, a pace of job destruction exceeded only once since 1945.
"The threat of a widespread depression is now real and present," said Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland.
The recession "is going to be long and drawn out," wrote Jennifer Lee, an economist for BMO Capital Markets.
The unemployment rate rose from 6.5% in October to 6.7% in November, the highest jobless rate since October 1993.
Read the full report. Job losses were widespread across industries in November. Fewer than a third of industries were hiring in November.
In services-producing industries, 370,000 jobs were lost, a record excluding one month in 1983 when nearly three-quarters of a million workers at AT&T went on strike.
The grim report could set the stage for further responses from Washington to address the recession. The Bush administration promised "aggressive" action, and pressure increased on the incoming Obama administration to craft a sizable fiscal stimulus plan. The large loss of jobs could also boost the chances for the automakers to get a loan from the federal government.
The Federal Reserve is likely to lower its interest rate target at the Dec. 16 meeting, economists said.
The employment report was much worse than expected. Economists expected job losses of around 350,000 in November. They expected the unemployment rate to rise to 6.8%.
See Economic Calendar. "We expect labor market conditions to be dreadful for many months to come and consequently for consumer spending to continue to decline," wrote Josh Shapiro, chief economist for MFR Inc.
Job losses in September and October were revised sharply lower by a total of 199,000. Over the past three months, payrolls have fallen by an average of 419,000 per month, compared with average monthly losses of 82,000 earlier in the year.
An alternative gauge of unemployment -- which includes discouraged workers and those whose hours have been cut back to part-time -- rose to 12.5% from 11.8%. The number of workers forced to work part-time rose by 621,000 to 7.3 million.
Total hours worked in the economy fell 0.9% in November and are down 2.8% in the past year. The average workweek fell to a record-low 33.5 hours in November. The decline in working hours is consistent with a 5% annualized drop in gross domestic product, wrote John Silvia, chief economist for Wachovia.
Average hourly earnings rose by 7 cents, or 0.4%, to $18.30. Average hourly wages are up 3.7% in the past year, close to the 3.8% rise in the consumer price index.
In goods-producing industries, 163,000 jobs were lost, according to a survey of work places. Manufacturing lost 85,000 workers, while construction lost 82,000.
In the services, 136,000 jobs were lost in business services, including 101,000 in employment services, such as temporary jobs. Financial services cut 34,000 jobs. Retail shed 91,000 jobs, including 24,000 at auto dealers.
Leisure and hospitality industries cut 76,000 jobs
Health and education services industries added 52,000 jobs. Government added 7,000.
In a separate survey of households, the government found that employment fell by 673,000, the largest lost since August 2001. Unemployment rose by 251,000 to 10.3 million. Unemployment has increased 2.7 million during the recession and 2.7 million more have been forced into part-time work.
In November, the labor force fell by 422,000.
The employment-population ratio fell to 61.4% in November from 61.8%. The labor force participation rate fell to 65.8% from 66.1%.
Rex Nutting is Washington bureau chief of MarketWatch
Free Forum Hosting
Important Announcement
First 
One daughter with a one year old and another on the way. The other already in danger of losing her house, without a layoff. My brothers, who are near (but not at) retirement age. 
Return to General