November Jobs Report

Middling is a good way to put it. 146,000 jobs were added in November, which is pretty close to average. In the face of the uncertainty of the fiscal cliff, depending what effect that uncertainty has, average could be better than it seems. According to the BLS, hurricane Sandy had little effect on employment. 

But the situation looks a bit worse once one looks deeper. The labor force participation rate declined, off-setting October's increase. This, and the added jobs, has brought the unemployment rate down to 7.7%. The data for the months of September and October were revised down by a combined 49,000 jobs, the first downward revision since April. The revision brings the monthly average job growth so far this year to 151,000, compared to 2011's 153,000.