Name: U.S. job growth tanks, unemployment rises ahead of holidays
Uploaded: 2025-12-17T03:17:33.255Z
Duration: 3 min 34 s
Description: The first U.S. jobs report since the government shutdown shows hiring slowed sharply in November, with unemployment rising to 4.6%, the highest since September 2021. The nation lost over 100,000 jobs in October, driven by steep federal cuts. Economists warn of broader weakness as manufacturing and other industries continue to shed jobs.

The first U.S. jobs report since the government shutdown shows hiring slowed sharply in November, with unemployment rising to 4.6%, the highest since September 2021. The nation lost over 100,000 jobs in October, driven by steep federal cuts. Economists warn of broader weakness as manufacturing and other industries continue to shed jobs.

The U.S. unemployment rate has increased to 4.6%, the highest level since 2021, following the release of delayed job numbers due to a government shutdown. The November jobs report indicates a mixed economic picture, with 64,000 jobs gained in November but 105,000 lost in October, a month affected by the shutdown.

The report also highlights that 5.5 million Americans are working part time but desire more hours, and 271,000 former federal workers are now counted as unemployed. Economists note ongoing sectoral disparities and lingering public pessimism about the economy, despite some positive indicators.

U.S. job growth tanks, unemployment rises ahead of holidays

UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBERS HAVE FINALLY BEEN RELEASED AFTER BEING DELAYED BY THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN AND THEY SHOWED THE RATE HAS RISEN TO 4.6 PERCENT, WHICH IS THE HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE 2021. SCRIPTS NEWS WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT STEPHANIE LIEBERGEN JOINS US NOW LIVE FROM OUR D.C. STUDIO AND STEPH, YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING INTO THESE NUMBERS, SO WHAT DO YOU FIND THAT THEY MEAN FOR THE ECONOMY? Hey Holly, well the biggest picture is that it's a little bit of good and it's a little bit of bad. An economist this morning described it to me as a mixed bag that we see in this jobs report. So, jobs report shows the country gained 64,000 jobs in November, but the country lost 105,000 jobs in October. Remember that's the month that the federal government was shut down for the entire month of October and then of course lingering over into the beginning of November. And you noted that unemployment rate, 4.6 percent, is also kind of, it's not a terrible unemployment rate even though it ticked up a little bit, somewhere between 4 and 6 percent is about normal, so 4.6 percent is right smack dab in the middle of that. What does this mean for workers? This means that businesses are really holding onto the employees that they already have, which makes it hard for people who are out of work and are looking for work. This report also shows 5.5 million Americans are working part time, but they wish they were working more. An economist that I talked to this morning who said it's a little bit of good news, a little bit of bad news in this November jobs report says that is actually a trend that he's been seeing all year long. Take a listen. In certain sectors we see strong growth, in other sectors we see sort of stagnation, we see the tariff effects on industries like manufacturing which is starting to feed through in terms of job losses there speeding up. So it's really a mixed bag, it's a mixed picture, which is how it's been almost every month this year. And we've been talking with a lot of these economic reports that we get, Holly, that it might show on the numbers that good things are happening for the economy, but Americans just don't feel that confident about the economy. And Jack Salmon, that economist, was telling me that that's about, you know, a little bit of a lingering effect from the last few years and from COVID, saying when inflation was so high, it was 6-8%, even though inflation is not that bad right now, any little tick up, anything that causes prices to go up just a little bit is something that Americans are feeling the impact of more. Really it's something that we're all maybe a little bit more sensitive to after the COVID-19 pandemic and the economy crashing and everything that we all lived through really for the last five years, Holly. So another big point, a big change in this particular jobs report is it is the first one since the last governmental fiscal year ended at the end of September. So it shows us exactly how many federal workers have left their federal jobs since January. That number 271,000 people maybe were a reduction in force or maybe they took that so-called fork in the road and they kept getting their paychecks through the end of September. Well, now all of those people are showing up on this jobs report as being unemployed. So a little bit of mixed news, but we'll be looking out for Vice President J.D. Vance. He'll be speaking on the economy and on affordability here later this morning. So we'll be keeping our eyes on that to see what message the Trump administration is pumping out after this jobs report. All right, Scripps News, Washington correspondent Stephanie Liebergen live for us. Thank you for your reporting, Steph. Appreciate it.

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