Scott Horsley

The pace of hiring has slowed sharply since the beginning of the year.

Concern over a weakening job market led the Federal Reserve to lower its benchmark interest rate last week for the third time since September.

The Labor Department's ability to monitor the job market was hampered this fall by the six-week government shutdown.

Both the October and November jobs numbers were delayed, and the survey used to track unemployment was not conducted in October.

The unemployment rate for November was 4.6 percent.

That's up from 4.4 percent in September and the highest jobless rate since the fall of 2021.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

Healthcare and construction were some of the only industries to add jobs in November.

Factories cut jobs, and so did delivery services.

The pace of hiring has slowed sharply since the beginning of the year.

Concern over a weakening job market led the Federal Reserve to lower its benchmark interest rate last week for the third time since September.

The Labor Department's ability to monitor the job market was hampered this fall by the six-week government shutdown.

Both the October and November jobs numbers were delayed, and the survey used to track unemployment was not conducted in October.

The unemployment rate for November was 4.6 percent.

That's up from 4.4 percent in September and the highest jobless rate since the fall of 2021.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

U.S.

employers added just 64,000 jobs in November as the unemployment rate climbed to 4.6 percent.

The economy recorded a net loss of jobs in October.

as tens of thousands of federal workers who took buyouts earlier in the year were officially dropped from government payrolls.