The United States added 120,000 jobs in the month of November, pushing the unemployment rate down to 8.6%, a government report said Friday.
The Labor Department noted that the unemployment rate from April through October held in the narrow 9 to 9.2% range.
The number of unemployed citizens also edged down by 594,000 to 13.3 million in November.
The United States added 120,000 jobs in the month of November, pushing the unemployment rate down to 8.6%, a government report said Friday.
The Labor Department noted that the unemployment rate from April through October held in the narrow 9 to 9.2% range.
The number of unemployed citizens also edged down by 594,000 to 13.3 million in November.
The unemployment situation has been blamed for a lackluster recovery in the housing market. While the unemployment rate moved lower in November, a government report noted Thursday that jobless claims for the last week of November edged up as 402,000 new unemployment filings came in, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week.
Analysts with Econoday noted that “the latest employment report is favorable for the recovery continuing to gain traction.”
Econoday reported that private payrolls gained the most in November, adding 140,000 jobs. That is up from 117,000 in October. However, Econoday added that “the November boost fell short of market expectations for a 150,000 increase.”
Doug Duncan, chief economist of Fannie Mae said that when the jobs report is placed within the context of a weak and slow healing housing market, this report is a net positive, but certainly not the game changer needed to drive up housing demand in the near term.
“Furthermore, weak income trends combined with the decline in hourly earnings reported today signal a tough consumer environment,” Duncan said. “Our November National Housing Survey, to be released Wednesday, December 7th, is expected to show only incremental improvement in the deeply negative housing market sentiment witnessed this summer.”
Write to Kerri Panchuk.
