Unemployment Rate Falls to 7.7% as 146K Jobs Added in November
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Tim Boyle/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — In the first monthly jobs report since Election Day, the Labor Department on Friday said U.S. employers added 146,000 jobs to their payrolls in November, exceeding expectations.
Economists had anticipated only around 90,000 jobs to be added last month, mainly due to the destruction of Superstorm Sandy.
The unemployment rate also beat expectations, falling from 7.9 percent to 7.7 percent — the lowest level in four years. Economists had expected to see the unemployment rate tick up to 8 percent.
One significant finding in the report was that Sandy did not significantly affect jobs.
The Labor Department, meanwhile, dialed back job gains for the previous two months. In October, the U.S. economy added 138,000 jobs, not the 171,000 reported before the election. The jobs added in September were also revised downward to 132,000 from 148,000.
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