Reduced the unemployment rate in November, the labor market is recovering across much of the U.S.
Payrolls increased in 29 states in November, while the jobless rate declined in 43, a sign the labor market is recovering across much of the U.S.
New York led the nation with a 29,500 gain in jobs, followed by Texas with 20,800, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. The biggest drop in unemployment was in Michigan, where the jobless rate fell 0.8 percentage point to 9.8 percent.
“We’re seeing a modest recovery in hiring across much of the country,” Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina, said before the report. “There are a few hot spots where activity is stronger.”
The improvement comes as lawmakers in Congress remained deadlocked over extending a payroll tax cut and long-term unemployment benefits by an end-of-year deadline. U.S. employers added 120,000 workers in November and the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 8.6 percent, the lowest since March 2009, the Labor Department reported Dec. 2.
The unemployment rates in Alabama, Minnesota, South Carolina and Utah dropped by 0.6 a percentage point each in November, marking the second-biggest declines statistically.
Nevada’s jobless rate dropped to 13 percent from 13.4 percent in October, still leaving it as the highest in the U.S. California …continue reading
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