US employers added 94,000 jobs in November according to the latest government statistics. The Labor Department slightly revised upwards its estimate for October job creation, to 170,000 but slashed its estimate for September new jobs to 44,000, the weakest monthly gain in more than three and a half years. Through those three months the US national unemployment rate has held steady at 4.7% of the working population.

Manufacturing industries continued to shed employees. They cut 11,000 jobs last month. That is on top of the 15,000 that were dropped in October. The report showed a loss of 33,000 jobs in goods-producing industries during November while 127,000 were created in the service sector.

The latest figures add to the likelihood that any interest-rate cut next week by the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, will be modest. Fed policy-makers are widely expected to cut interest rates by at least a quarter percentage point when they meet next Tuesday. Some analysts are even speculating they might trim rates by a more aggressive half percent to head off recession risks.

euronews


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