The US employment report for November, released Friday by the Labor Department, was hailed by the Obama White House as a significant improvement. In fact, the report shows that the US economy remains mired in mass unemployment, with conditions deteriorating for employed and unemployed workers alike.
The survey concluded that the US economy recorded a net gain of 120,000 jobs last month, below the number of new jobs needed to keep pace with the monthly growth of the population. Previous post-recession recoveries typically saw monthly payroll gains of 200,000–300,000.
The Labor Department revised upward its earlier figures for job growth in September and October, adding a total of 72,000 jobs for the two months. The October figure was raised from 80,000 to 100,000 and the September figure from 158,000 to 210,000.
While the official unemployment rate fell from 9 percent for October to 8.6 percent for November, the drop was largely due to a mass exodus of long-term unemployed and discouraged workers from the labor force. Unemployed workers who have not looked for a job for more than a month are not considered part of the labor force. Thus the staggering labor force decline of 315,000 last month is a more accurate reflection of the social impact of protracted mass unemployment than a net job gain nearly 200,000 lower than the labor force contraction.
