BLS: US Added 64K Jobs in Nov; Jobless Rate at 4.6%

SECAUCUS, NJ (DTN) – U.S. nonfarm employment rose by 64,000 in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Tuesday (12/16), beating a forecast of 50,000 growth. But the jobless rate spiked to a near four-year high, reflecting a generally difficult labor market.

The nonfarm payrolls report for last month, delayed by the record-long federal government shutdown between October and mid-November, was also lower than September’s revised jobs growth of 108,000.

September is the prior reference month for nonfarm payrolls since the BLS did not issue an October report on this due to the government shutdown. The agency initially put September’s jobs growth at 119,000.

The unemployment rate swelled to 4.6% in November, matching the jobless reading from October 2022, during the post-pandemic economic recovery.

Analysts noted that the unemployment rate rose despite efforts by the Federal Reserve to prop up the labor market with interest rate cuts and expected the central bank to continue with monetary easing to help its target.

“The rise in the unemployment rate is something to keep an eye on and will keep the hopes of another [rate cut] alive,” Jeff Schulze, head of Economic and Market Strategy at ClearBridge Investments, said, adding that the payrolls report had a dovish tone for Fed monetary policy in 2026. The U.S. dollar weakened following the release, with the index falling by 0.3% to 97.65.

According to the BLS, the labor force participation rate inched higher to 62.5% from 62.4% in September, and the employment-population ratio at 59.6% was little changed too.

In November, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by five cents, or 0.1%, to $36.86. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings increased by 3.5%, BLS said.

Job gains were primarily seen in familiar areas of ambulatory health care services (24,000 jobs), hospitals (11,000) and nursing and residential care facilities (11,000). Construction employment was the outlier, growing by 28,000 jobs.

Job losses were mainly in transportation and warehousing (18,000), courier and messenger services (18,000). The federal government shed 6,000 jobs, continuing with a trend noted earlier in the year due to massive civil servant layoffs instituted by the Trump administration.