Name: Unemployment hits four-year high, U.S. jobs report shows
Uploaded: 2025-12-17T00:08:36.364Z
Duration: 2 min 23 s
Description: New government data shows the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.6% in November. That marks its highest level since September 2021.

New government data shows the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.6% in November. That marks its highest level since September 2021.

Washington

The US unemployment rate increased to 4.6% in November, marking the highest level since September 2021, according to newly released economic data. The November jobs report showed a gain of 64,000 jobs, surpassing economists' expectations by about 20,000, while October had seen a loss of over 100,000 jobs. 

Economists note that while the labor market is not experiencing significant growth, it is also not in decline, though the rising unemployment rate is causing concern. The Federal Reserve is expected to closely monitor both labor and upcoming inflation data before making decisions on interest rates in the coming months.

Unemployment hits four-year high, U.S. jobs report shows

New economic data was released today. It's a bit of a mixed bag. The November jobs report shows the U.S. gained 64,000 jobs for the month, up roughly 20,000 from what economists predicted. In October, the U.S. lost more than 100,000 jobs, but at the same time, the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.6%, which is up from 4.4% in September. This marks the highest level it has been since September of 2021. CBS News Money Watch correspondent Kelly O'Grady joins us now from the New York Stock Exchange. Kelly, what do you make of the data that we're seeing? Yeah, so the November number is, like you said, better than expected. So I think what that sort of tells you is this is a labor market trying to catch its breath right now. It's not huge growth, but certainly something that we like to see versus negative growth. That 4.6% number though, Lindsay, that is causing a lot of anxiety amongst folks that I'm talking to in the economist and investor community, because 4% to 4.4% is what we considered healthy. So 4.6%, it's not at the depths that we saw in COVID, but we are inching slowly upward, and that's really where we are going to be laser-focused on over the next few months. The October number, you hear, oh my gosh, the economy lost over 100,000 jobs in October. You might think that there would be more panic, but that was driven by something that we already knew was going to happen. You had those doge layoffs and a lot of federal government workers take the buyout through the end of September. That hits in October. So that was really expected. And if you sort of take out the private sector, we saw growth of over 50,000. So all in all, I think it's better than expected. The labor market is not falling off a cliff, but there are some cracks here. What will the new data mean for the Fed and interest rates in the coming months? It kind of throws a little bit of a monkey wrench, right? Because it's sort of more weakness in the labor market, especially with that unemployment rate and the fact that we are working on delayed data still. It's not going to really be until January and beyond where they have a more complete picture. So I think what the Fed will do is they will look at this as a sign that maybe they should continue to prioritize the labor market, but we are also going to get inflation data on Thursday. And remember, those are the two mandates for the Fed. So I'm waiting. I'll give you a better answer on Thursday in terms of whether this pushes them more towards a cut. Okay, can't wait. Kelly O'Grady, thank you.

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