In November, the U.S. unemployment rate reached 4.6%, its highest level since 2021, with just 64,000 new jobs created and 105,000 positions lost, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Tuesday amid economic uncertainty and growing automation across various sectors.
The previous month’s result was slightly higher than expected, though lower than September’s, due to the departure of federal workers following cuts implemented by the Trump administration, according to data finally released after a 43-day government shutdown that ended November 13.
Job creation exceeded economists’ estimate of 40,000. Meanwhile, October’s job losses were heavily influenced by the exit of approximately 162,000 federal employees, many of whom resigned at the end of fiscal year 2025 under pressure from the U.S. government to reduce the size of the federal workforce, driven by the return of Donald Trump to the presidency.
Labor Department (DOL) revisions on these cuts also include the loss of 33,000 federal payroll jobs in August and September.
U.S. Job Market Performance Worsens
Additionally, hiring has clearly lost momentum due to the uncertainty caused by Donald Trump’s tariff policies and the lingering effects of the high interest rates the Federal Reserve implemented in 2022 and 2023 to curb inflationary pressures following pandemic lockdowns.
The unemployment rate, though still modest by historical standards, has risen from the 3.4% reported in April 2023, its lowest level in 54 years.
While most U.S. companies have retained their employees, they have been reluctant to hire more, as they begin evaluating the benefits of AI implementation in their operations while also adapting to the consequences of Trump’s unpredictable trade policies, particularly import tariffs.
These conditions have caused serious challenges for those trying to find new jobs or even secure interviews.
“We’ve seen many of the companies we support stuck in limbo,” said Matt Hobbie, vice president of staffing firm HealthSkil in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to The Associated Press. “‘Are we hiring or not? What can we automate? Where do we need the human touch?’”
Monetary Policy Complicated by Government Shutdown and Tariffs
Moreover, the government has struggled to adjust monetary policies to boost job creation, as Federal Reserve (Fed) governors remain divided over further interest rate cuts, especially since inflation has not yet fallen to the central bank’s 2% target for this year. To achieve this, they would need to raise their benchmark rate.
In fact, concerns about the labor market were enough to prompt the Fed to cut its benchmark interest rate by 0.25% last week for the third time this year.
However, during deliberations, three Fed officials opposed the measure, marking the largest voting divide among central bank governors in six years.
On one hand, Fed governors are reluctant to make further cuts while inflation remains above the central bank’s 2% target.
However, two additional governors voted to keep rates unchanged. Meanwhile, Stephen Miran, appointed by Trump to the Fed’s board of governors in September, was the only one to support a larger cut, aligning with the president’s demands.
Their deliberations continue to face challenges because official reports on the economy’s health are delayed and incomplete due to the government shutdown, which prevented timely data collection.
Also due to the shutdown, the DOL did not release its September, October, and November employment reports on time.
It finally published September’s employment report on November 20, seven weeks late. It released some October data, including a count of jobs created that month by businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies, alongside November’s report on Tuesday but did not publish October’s unemployment rate because it could not calculate it due to a lack of staff to gather the information.
Image: DiarioNY
