U.S. employers added a sluggish 210,000 jobs in November
WASHINGTON — America’s employers slowed the pace of their hiring in November, adding 210,000 jobs, the fewest in nearly a year.
Friday’s report from the Labor Department also showed that the unemployment rate fell sharply to 4.2 percent from 4.6 percent. That is a historically low level though still above the pre-pandemic jobless rate of 3.5 percent.
Overall, the November jobs figures point to an economic recovery that looks resilient though under threat from a spike in inflation and the potential impact of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Little is definitively known about the variant, and widespread business shutdowns are considered unlikely. Still, omicron could discourage some Americans from traveling, shopping and eating out in the coming months and potentially slow the economy.
For now, though, Americans are spending freely, and the economy is forecast to expand at a 7 percent annual rate in the final three months of the year, a big rebound from the 2.1 percent pace in the previous quarter, when the delta variant hobbled growth.
