The US economy added 64,000 jobs in November as the unemployment rate crept up to 4.6%, according to Labor Department data published Tuesday.
The unemployment rate is now at its highest level since September 2021.
The November jobs report, originally scheduled to be published Dec. 5 before the 43-day government shutdown delayed multiple releases of the country’s economic data, comes as Americans stress over rising layoffs and a frozen job market that can feel impossible to break into. Tuesday’s report suggested those conditions persisted toward the end of the year.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected a gain of 50,000 jobs.
Partial data for October was also published, showing a loss of 105,000 positions. The unemployment rate for the month will not be released. Bank of America economist Shruti Mishra had noted that October’s payroll numbers would be affected by the delayed impact of DOGE-led government job cuts, since many federal employees who opted for the “deferred resignation program” officially left their positions Sept. 30.
“Government payrolls in Oct will likely be noisy because of the end of the DOGE buyout program,” Mishra said in a note.
The last official reading of the labor market, published in November, was pushed back by several weeks and had only offered data for September, showing an unexpected uptick in jobs after the economy actually lost jobs in August and June, marking the first negative employment months since 2020.
Emma Ockerman is a reporter covering the economy and labor for Yahoo Finance. You can reach her at emma.ockerman@yahooinc.com.
Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance