In a surprisingly encouraging report, the U.S. economy added 146,000 new jobs in November, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Department of Labor, and the official unemployment rate fell to 7.7%. It was 7.9% the previous month.
Forecasts leading to the montly report were varied. The monthly ADP report forecast 118,000 new jobs, citing Hurricane Sandy as the reason why its forecast was lower than in recent months. However, weekly initial unemployment claims fell by 25,000 in the past week.
Hurricane Sandy, which impacted 11 states in the northeast, had most forecasters predicting a tick up in the unemployment rate, even with retailers hiring more seasonal and part-time employees to handle the holiday workload.
Economists say the US. economy must create at least 150,000 new jobs each month just to keep up with changes in population and the labor market, and it must create about 250,000 to quickly bring down the unemployment rate.
One negative aspect of the report is revised employment data from September and October. The Department of Labor said about 50,000 fewer jobs were created in those two months than originally reported.
