According to U.S. Department of Labor figures issued Friday, the American economy added 210,000 jobs in November, well below experts’ estimates, but the unemployment rate fell 0.4 percentage points to 4.2 percent, The Hill reports.
Consumer spending rose in the face of rising inflation, but only half of the roughly 500,000 jobs experts predicted were added to payrolls in the United States. Despite a minor increase in labor market participation, the unemployment rate dropped significantly below the 4.5 percent predicted by economists.
The November employment report revealed a perplexing disparity between the number of jobs added to companies’ payrolls based on a poll of businesses and the general condition of the labor market as perceived by Americans. Despite the fact that the topline employment total fell considerably short of projections, some experts believe it will be revised significantly next month due to wider labor market indicators of growth.
Seasonal revisions based on employment trends before the pandemic, according to Frantantoni, may have skewed the overall employment growth lower, and he cited numerous earlier job figures that had been revised much higher. The Department Of Labor modified employment growth upward by 626,000 jobs between June and September, highlighting the difficulties in tracking a pandemic-ravaged economy.
Unemployment rates for African American and Hispanic workers grew significantly, while women’s labor force participation increased 0.2 percentage points to 56.2 percent, matching the pre-delta spike level.
While several indicators of job-market strength strengthened in November, President Biden and Democrats are expected to face increased political pressure at a key moment for their plan. Democrats are attempting to enact Vice President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion social services and climate package in order to avoid the fiscal cliff, despite Republican opposition.
As Biden works to clear supply lines, the president and his party have tried to assuage concerns about inflation by emphasizing the pandemic’s quick recovery. The United States has recovered the fastest of any country impacted badly by the coronavirus, while many others have battled with rising inflation as the global economy reopened.
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