The nation's unemployment rate jumped 0.3 percent in November, to 6 percent, the Labor Department reported. The number of unemployed Americans rose by 299,000 in one month and the jobless rate ties an 8-year high it set earlier this year.

The construction industry lost 5,000 jobs last month, on top of 27,000 the month before.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said 8.508 million people were jobless in November. Just over one-fifth - 20.4 percent - were jobless at least 27 weeks, and have lost jobless benefits. The GOP-run Congress killed a jobless benefits extension (see below).

Overall, there were 2.552 million more jobless in November than when George W. Bush took over the Oval Office in January 2001. Unemployment then - compiled in the last weeks of President Clinton's term - was 4.2 percent.

Federal unemployment benefits for more than 800,000 jobless Americans, including 32,900 in Michigan, will cease on Dec. 28.

As we reported in our last issue, that's because the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives adjourned for the year on Nov. 22 without resolving a conflict with U.S. Senate over the number of weeks to extend benefits. Dems were pushing for a 13-week extension; Republicans wanted a five-week extension. The full Senate, controlled by Democrats, unanimously adopted a 13-week extension.

"There is no legitimate reason for the House not to pass a Senate bill that every single senator approved. Giving minimal assistance to people out-of-work in this difficult job market should not be controversial. The Republican leadership should not allow any member to use as a bargaining chip the well-being of tens of thousands of American families," said Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), a senior member on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources.

Added Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee: "This is a difficult time to find any kind of job and it makes no sense to deprive families of the minimal assistance of extended unemployment benefits."

The excavation and trenching standard was revised by federal OSHA for the construction industry in 1990, in an attempt to lower the rate of fatal injuries. A recent report said the new standard appears to be working.

According to a report in the October Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, from 1984 to 1989, before the new trench standard was implemented, the fatality rate from construction industry cave-ins was 13.5 deaths per million workers per year.

But between 1990 and 1995, the study found that the fatality rate was 6.8 deaths per million - a 50 percent decrease. The study said this decline was significantly larger than the 27 percent decline in all other fatal injuries in construction during the same time period.

Top construction industry executives enjoyed robust increases in compensation in 2001, with a 31.6 percent average increase compared to 2000 pay, according to a Conference Board survey released last month.

Individual construction workers in the U.S. typically received raises in the 3-4 percent range.

In second place among executives was the energy sector, where CEOs saw their median compensation rise 21.5 percent.

Occupational exposure to respiratory health hazards has led to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 19 percent of the U.S. workforce, reports a study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. And construction leads the list of high-risk occupations in getting the affliction.

The disease includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema, and is the fourth-leading cause of death for people over age 45.