The U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs in November (Photo/CNN)
By Karen Stokes
The November Jobs Report showed a rebound from October according to the Bureau of Labor report on Friday, December 6. The U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs in November 2024, surpassing expectations.
The rebound in the November jobs data could be attributed to a recovery from disruptions in October, when job growth was weakened by hurricanes in the Southeast.
“I think that what we’ve seen is a real policy commitment from the President and the Vice President since they came to office to promote economic policies that create jobs for working people and that increase wages and a standard of living,” said Daniel Hornung, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council. “It has taken real time but when you look at things like the legislation they passed to rebuild our infrastructure, create more manufacturing jobs, and cut taxes for working families, we think it all helped to get us to a point where the American economy, and American workers are doing well and the next Administration will inherit an economy that is doing very well.”
The unemployment rate edged a bit higher to 4.2%.
“The unemployment rate did rise a little bit. It’s still quite low for the course of this administration, or for any administration in the last 50 years,” said Hornung.
Economists were anticipating 200,000 jobs to be added and a jobless rate remaining at 4.1%, according to consensus estimates on FactSet.
The unemployment rate for Black workers jumped to 6.4%, an increase of 0.7 percentage points.
The economy continues to produce healthy income gains. Wage growth was stronger than expected at 0.4% for the month, holding at a 4% increase annually.
Hornung said, “One of the things we’ve now seen is wages growing faster than inflation for the last two years. That’s really important. It means that people can afford more with their wages.”
Job gains were focused in health care (54,000), leisure and hospitality (53,000), and government (33,000), sectors that have consistently led payroll growth for the past few years.
Social assistance added 19,000 to the total.
“Since I took office, the economy has created more than 16 million jobs, with jobs created every single month. Unemployment has been the lowest on average of any administration in 50 years. Incomes are up almost $4,000 more than prices. While there is more to do to lower costs, we’ve taken action to lower prescription drug prices, health insurance premiums, utility bills, and gas prices that will pay dividends for years to come,” President Biden said in a statement.