Name: What November jobs report says about state of economy
Uploaded: 2025-12-17T15:03:38.464Z
Duration: 2 min 44 s
Description: Numbers from the November jobs report released on Tuesday show the unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, its highest level in four years. CBS News business analyst Jill Schlesinger explains what to know.

Numbers from the November jobs report released on Tuesday show the unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, its highest level in four years. CBS News business analyst Jill Schlesinger explains what to know.

The November unemployment rate in the United States increased to 4.6%, marking the highest level in four years. The latest jobs report, which combined data from October and November due to a recent government shutdown, showed a loss of 105,000 jobs in October—primarily from federal employees taking early retirement—followed by a rebound of 64,000 jobs added in November.

Job creation has slowed significantly compared to previous years, with the current pace at about 55,000 jobs per month, down from 170,000 last year and 200,000 the year before. Economists attribute this slowdown to uncertainty following tariff and immigration policy changes. While the job market is expected to start 2025 slowly, analysts anticipate potential improvement in job creation by mid to late 2025. Job seekers are advised to use relevant keywords in applications and leverage personal networks to improve their chances.

What November jobs report says about state of economy

Numbers out Tuesday show the November unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent, highest level in four years. CBS News Business Analyst Jill Slester is here to break it all down, what you need to know about the job market. Jill, great to have you here. What do you need to know about the job market? You know, this was the first report since the government shutdown and we kind of got two months shoved into one. So in October we saw job losses, 105,000 jobs lost, but this is primarily expected due to those folks in the federal government who took that early retirement offer earlier in the year. Job creation bounced back in November, 64,000 jobs, but here's what we know. The first four months of this year we were kind of going great guns, more than 120,000 jobs a month or so. Then we get that tariff announcement, immigration policies, businesses freak out, they say uh-oh, we don't want to hire so much. Then we saw job creation really slow down. This year we are on pace right now for about 55,000 jobs a month. Last year it was like 170,000, the year before it was 200,000. So this is a real sign that the economy downshifted this year, again probably because of uncertainty, but it's sort of leveled out right now. That unemployment rate, it is a little scary to be up in the high fours or getting into the middle fours, but a lot of economists believe that a little of this is a statistical rounding error, so I don't want to go crazy. You said great guns, we start in 2025. How do you think 2026 is going to start and go? I think starting slow, because what happens is the job market lags the overall economy, and what we're seeing and hearing from a lot of companies is, yeah we're gonna hire if we need to, but we're not going crazy. This is called a low-hire, low-fire environment. We haven't seen widespread layoffs, but I do think towards the middle to the end of next year we could see job creation pick up. That's good news. So what about those looking to get hired? What advice do you have for them? Well listen, there are those AI filters that help you with the holidays. They are also working against you sometimes in the employment landscape. Use the keywords that employers are using in their own job descriptions. Don't mess around. Here is a great idea to combat AI. Use a human being. Talk to people you know. Fire up your network. Every single favor you're gonna call in, and you're gonna, like I want to get on evening news. I know a guy who might be able to help me, so I'm gonna call him in, and just one quick moment, when people ask me what it's like to work at CBS mornings, what I say is, this crew at this morning show is incredible. The nicest, most professional, delightful people to work with, except for Tony, so let's see what happens next. Yep, that's pretty spot-on. That's what I say to them all. So we wish you all the very best luck. You deserve it all. Thank you. He does deserve it all. He does. Very excited for him. Here we go. Jill Schlesinger, thank you.

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