The institutes's headline index, the Purchasing Managers Index, fell 2.7 points to 36.2; but new orders, a component index, dropped for the 12th straight month to 27.9, the lowest reading since June 1980, ISM said.

The index uses 50 as a break-even point with figures above indicating growth and figures below indicating contraction.

In addition, the prices index at 25.5 percent "indicates that commodity prices continue to decline at a rapid rate," said Norbert Ore, chair of the Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing Business Survey Committee.

"This is the lowest reading for the (prices) index since May 1949 when it registered 20.1 percent," Ore said.

Only two manufacturing industries showed growth in November, apparel and paper products, ISM said.

In November, the employment index turned downward from 34.6 in October to 34.2. The production index fell from 34.1 to 31.5 and inventories index fell from 44.3 to 39.1 the report said. The export index held steady at 41, while the imports index fell from 41 to 37.5 during the month.