Hiring around the U.S. slowed last sharply month as the coronavirus battered the economy, the Labor Department said Friday. Employers added 245,000 jobs in November, the slowest pace of monthly job growth since April, and about half what economists had expected.
Payroll gains last month amount a sharp drop from the 610,000 jobs added in October and 710,000 in September. The unemployment rate ticked down to 6.7%. But it fell for a bad reason — 400,000 people stopped looking for work, meaning they were no longer counted as unemployed.
Normally, adding nearly a quarter million jobs in a single month would signify healthy growth, but the economy faces a massive jobs deficit, with about 10 million fewer jobs since April. Nearly 4 million people have dropped out of the workforce altogether, meaning they are not working or looking for work.
"With the amount of pressure that the escalating pandemic is putting on the labor market right now, it's pretty clear that a double-dip recession is a very real possibility," Steve Rick, chief economist at CUNA Mutual Group, said in a note. "For those who have been out of a job since March or early Spring, this extended period of unemployment will make it even more difficult to find new, stable work."
Coronavirus relief plan proposed as millions ...
02:06
Signs that the surge in coronavirus cases is tripping up the recovery raises pressure on lawmakers in Washington, D.C., to reach agreement on a new round of emergency spending. Congressional leaders are discussing a bipartisan $908 billion package that would extend unemployment benefits, offer loans to small businesses, and provide funding to cash-strapped states and localities.
Without such a deal, benefits for 12 million Americans are set to expire on December 26.
This is a developing story.