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We had a fairly solid jobs report released on Friday. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs in November with growth concentrated mostly in health care, leisure and hospitality, government, and social assistance, while retail trade lost jobs. The unemployment rate remained at 4.2%, with 7.1 million unemployed, up from 3.7% and 6.3 million a year ago.
Labor force participation held steady at 62.5%, and the employment-population ratio stayed at 59.8%, down slightly from last year. Long-term unemployment remained at 1.7 million, making up 23% of the unemployed. Meanwhile, 4.5 million workers were part-time for economic reasons, an increase from 4 million a year earlier.
Outside the labor force, 5.5 million people wanted a job but weren’t actively searching, including 396,000 discouraged workers. While job gains are promising, challenges such as underemployment and stagnant participation persist.
Joe Biden was quick to credit himself for the positive report.
“America’s comeback continues,” he said in a statement.
