The US economy added 245,000 jobs in November on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. It was 224,000 fewer than economists had expected, as the job recovery continues to slow.
The unemployment rate inched down to 6.7%, from 6.9% in October. But the drop occurred because more workers left the labor force in November. Of the people who were not counted in the labor force, 3.9 million people were prevented from looking for work due to the pandemic.
Eight months after Covid-19 brought the economy to a screeching halt, and following better-than-expected improvements over the summer months, the recovery is running out of steam.
The economy is still down 9.8 million jobs since February, before the crisis began.
The retail sector, which had been strengthening over the summer, registered a loss of 35,000 jobs because businesses hired fewer seasonal workers for the holidays.
While a lot of shopping already moved online in the past years, the pandemic gave that trend another boost. Warehousing and transportation jobs continued to grow.
Employment in government declined for the third month in a row, largely because of the loss of temporary workers hired for this year’s Census.
Millions of Americans continue to struggle with joblessness through no fault of their own. The pandemic unemployment benefits introduced by the CARES Act in the spring will expire at year-end unless Congress acts fast.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
& © 2020 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
