US added 64K jobs in November after losing 105K in October, delayed report shows

The U.S. economy added jobs in November as economic uncertainty continued to dampen activity in the labor market.

The Labor Department on Tuesday reported that employers added 64,000 jobs in November, a figure that was above the 50,000 estimate of economists polled by LSEG.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.6% for November, which was higher than the 4.4% rate expected by economists. The 4.6% unemployment rate is the highest since September 2021.

Job gains in the two prior months in which the employment report was released were both revised lower. Employment in August was revised down by 22,000 from a loss of 4,000 jobs to a loss of 26,000 jobs; while September was revised down by 11,000 jobs from a gain of 119,000 jobs to 108,000 jobs.

Taken together, employment in August and September was 33,000 jobs lower than previously reported.

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November’s jobs report was originally scheduled for release on Dec. 5, but was delayed by the 43-day government shutdown that stretched into November and impacted the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data collection. The shutdown also precluded the release of the October jobs report, though the BLS included some data from that month in the latest release.

Employment in October declined by 105,000 jobs, with the private sector adding 52,000 jobs and the government shedding 157,000 jobs for the month. Federal workers who accepted deferred buyouts earlier in the year, such as those put forward by DOGE, were counted as employed until they were officially recorded as leaving their jobs in October. 

BLS was unable to produce an unemployment rate for October.

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Private payrolls added 69,000 jobs in November, above the LSEG estimate of 45,000.

Government payrolls in November shrank by 5,000 jobs, following the larger decline in October. That included a loss of 6,000 federal jobs and 2,000 local government jobs, declines that were partially offset by the addition of 3,000 state government jobs.

The manufacturing sector shed 5,000 jobs in November, in line with economists’ expectations.

Healthcare businesses added 46,300 jobs, which was largely in line with the average monthly gain of 39,000 over the prior 12 months. Those gains were spread across ambulatory healthcare services (+24,000), hospitals (+11,400), and nursing and residential care facilities (+10,900).

The construction industry added 28,000 jobs in November after having changed little over the prior 12 months. Most of the job gains were among nonresidential specialty trade contractors (+18,700).

Social assistance firms added 17,700 jobs for the month, while the transportation and warehousing sector shed 17,700 jobs in November.

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The labor force participation rate was little changed at 62.5% in November, having changed little over the last year.

The number of long-term unemployed, defined as those jobless for 27 weeks or more, was little changed at 1.9 million in November and accounted for 24.3% of all unemployed people.

The number of people employed part-time for economic reasons was 5.5 million in November, an increase of 909,000 from September. These workers would’ve preferred full-time employment but had their hours reduced, or they were unable to find full-time jobs.

Laura Ullrich, director of economic research for the Indeed Hiring Lab, said that this “incomplete and unconventional jobs report may always need an asterisk attached to it, but it still paints a sobering picture of a job market that may officially be turning frigid after a prolonged cooling period.”

“The combined two-month report shows notable declines in employment in October as tens of thousands of government employees who had remained on payrolls through the summer finally came off as their buyout deals took effect,” Ullrich noted.

Kay Haigh, global co-head of fixed income and liquidity solutions at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said that the “Fed is unlikely to put much weight on today’s report given data disruptions.”

“Chair Powell commented last week that the report would likely be affected by shutdown-related distortions, making it a less reliable gauge of the labor market’s health than usual,” Haigh said. “The report on December’s employment data, released in early January ahead of the next meeting, will likely be a much more meaningful indicator for the Fed when it comes to deciding the near-term trajectory.”

The release of employment data for November and the partial October release did little to shift the market’s view that the Fed will leave rates unchanged at its meeting in February. 

The probability of rates remaining at their current target range of 3.5% to 3.75% was 75.6% as of Tuesday morning, unchanged from a day ago and up from 69.8% a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.