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As finance chiefs prepare to close out the current calendar year, the latest employment numbers fuel questions about the economy’s underlying strength.
By the numbers: The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in November, its highest in more than four years, Chao Deng, Justin Lahart and Harriet Torry report.
A long-delayed government report showed that 64,000 jobs were gained in November, while 105,000 jobs were lost in October. Job losses in June, August and October mean the U.S. economy has shed jobs in three out of the past six months. The unemployment rate in November was up from 4.4% in September, the last month the Labor Department reported for that metric.
Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist for Santander US, said there could have been “a lot of statistical noise” in the report, including possible distortions from the government’s long closure. The shutdown prevented the Labor Department from collecting some of the jobs-market data that it normally would have.
So what?: Overall, economists describe the current labor market as a low-fire, low-hire environment. Most companies aren’t laying off workers en masse. But they also aren’t willing to hire too many new workers. Many employers that typically rush to hire seasonal workers at this time of year are sitting tight. Others are experimenting to see how many job tasks can be replaced by artificial intelligence.
What’s more, Americans remain frustrated with high and rising prices, and the record-long government shutdown disrupted food aid, air travel and the paychecks of federal workers. Also on Tuesday, the government reported that U.S. retail sales were decelerating.
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