US unemployment rate falls to four-year low

The US added 146,000 jobs in November, official data shows, as the economy seemingly shrugged off storm Sandy.

The unexpectedly strong performance brought the unemployment rate down to a four-year low of 7.7% of the workforce.

The jobs figure was well above most analysts' expectations and continued a recent surge that began in July.

Weekly benefits data registered a sharp but short-lived jump in the number claiming unemployment benefits in the states ravaged by the storm last month.

"Our analysis leads us to conclude that Hurricane Sandy did not substantively impact the national employment and unemployment estimates for November," said John Galvin, acting commissioner at the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS), which produced the jobs report.

The jobs survey data for the individual states - which can be used by analysts to determine what effect, if any, the storm had - will not be released until 21 December.

Mixed message

The relatively good news for November was however offset by the BLS's decision to downwardly revise the jobs figures for the preceding two months by a cumulative total of 49,000.

The October figure - which was originally reported just before the elections as 171,000, prompting some Republican supporters to suggest that the numbers had been manipulated - has been cut in the latest estimate to 138,000.

Moreover, despite the strong pick-up in jobs during November, the fall in the unemployment rate to 7.7% from 7.9% in October was in large part down to people giving up the search for work.

The unemployment figure only includes those actively seeking a job, and once people stop doing so they drop out of the statistics.

The jobless rate peaked at 10% in 2008, and has fallen in fits and starts over the past three years, but still remains some way short of the 5% level that has accompanied periods of healthy growth in the past two decades.

The number of jobs being added by the US economy since the recession ended has been far weaker than during previous economic recoveries, and has scarcely been enough to keep up with the natural growth in the US population.

The total number of people in employment has been stuck at about 58% of the US population since 2009, well down from the 63% level that characterised the boom years of the past decade, as many Americans have retired or given up seeking work.

The US Federal Reserve is due to meet next week to decide whether to expand the central bank's policy of buying up debt from the markets in order to stimulate the recovery.

- BBC