But with 21 dot-com companies shutting down in August, up from 9 closings in July, the decrease in layoffs was tempered by the industry's continuing troubles.
Elsewhere, while clothing, furniture and household good prices fell on a monthly basis compared with June, the decrease was much smaller than a year ago - applying upward pressure on the overall cost of living.
Excluding orders for transportation equipment, which can swing widely from month to month, orders for all other big-ticket goods declined 3.7percentt in November, the largest decrease since June 2002.
Over the three six-month periods, the decrease was significantly more rapid for the whole rehabilitation group (bottom of Figure 3a b).
The department said the April-to-May decrease in exports reflected lower sales of industrial supplies and materials; consumer goods; and foods, feeds and beverages.
Thereafter, the light intensity decreased, reaching peak values of 635, 427 and 183 µmol m−2 s−1 in August, September and October, in concert with the decrease in day length.
Orders for expensive manufactured goods dropped 0.6percentt last month, the first decrease since August.
The report also showed inventories of durable goods fell 0.6percentt in January, the smallest decrease since April of last year.
Beef fell 2.3percentt in July, compared with June, the eighth decrease in the last nine months, according to the report.
The state unemployment rate dropped to 4.0percentt last month from 4.5percentt in June, the first decrease of 0.5percentt since January 1993.
