WASHINGTON — Job growth slowed significantly in November compared with October, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Employment rose by 245,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate fell to 6.7%. This compares with the addition of 610,000 jobs in October.
The unemployment rate has fallen by 8 percentage points since April as the country locked down during the first wave of COVID-19, but the number is still 3.2 points higher than February's mark.
Some 10.7 million people were unemployed in November to continue a downward trend, but the number is still 4.9 million higher than February's mark, the federal government said.
The number of manufacturing jobs increased by 27,000 in November but the total is still down by 599,000 compared with February. Retail was off 35,000 jobs in November and down 550,000 jobs since February, the BLS reported.
"In November, 14.8 million people reported that they had been unable to work because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic — that is, they did not work at all or worked fewer hours at some point in the last 4 weeks due to the pandemic," BLS Commissioner William W. Beach said .
"About 3.9 million people not in the labor force in November were prevented from looking for work due to the pandemic, up from 3.6 million in October," Mr. Beach said.
Employment gains in transportation and warehousing totaled 145,000 in November, more than half of the total increase. While overall retail jobs were off for the month, automotive dealers added 4,000 jobs during that time.
