The U.S. economy added 64,000 jobs in November, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, the highest since September 2021, according to a delayed Labor Department report released on December 16, 2025.
The release arrived later than normal because federal statistical work was disrupted by a 43-day government shutdown that stretched into November and impeded data collection and processing.
The report also incorporated partial October figures that were not published during the shutdown.
Shutdown-delayed data and revisions
The Labor Department said it could not produce an unemployment rate for October because the household survey was not conducted during the shutdown. Even so, the establishment survey showed that total nonfarm payrolls fell by 105,000 in October before rebounding in November.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics noted that both the household and establishment surveys required extended collection windows after the government reopened.
Revisions lowered job totals for late summer. August employment was revised down by 22,000, turning a previously reported loss of 4,000 into a loss of 26,000. September’s gain was revised down by 11,000, from 119,000 to 108,000.
Combined, those changes left August and September 33,000 jobs lower than initially reported, adding to evidence that hiring momentum had already cooled heading into the fourth quarter.
October’s losses and what changed in November
The drop of 105,000 payrolls in October reflected sharp government losses that outweighed modest private gains. Private payrolls rose by 52,000 that month while government payrolls fell by 157,000, including a 162,000 decline in federal employment as deferred separations were recorded on agency payrolls.
Federal workers on shutdown furloughs remained counted as employed for the relevant pay period, but those who accepted earlier buyout or separation offers were reflected as leaving their jobs in October when their departures became official.
Conditions steadied in November. Private payrolls added 69,000 jobs, and government payrolls declined by 5,000. Within the public sector, federal employment fell by 6,000, local government slipped by 2,000, and state government added 3,000, leaving a small net drag from government. Those shifts, along with improved hiring in a few industries, produced the month’s 64,000 net gain.
Where jobs grew and fell
Hiring remained concentrated in a handful of services industries. Health care added 46,300 positions, close to its recent trend. Gains were spread across ambulatory health care services (+24,000), hospitals (+11,400), and nursing and residential care facilities (+10,900). Construction employment rose by 28,000, led by nonresidential specialty trade contractors (+18,700) after showing little net change over the prior year.
Other service categories saw mixed results. Social assistance increased by 17,700, continuing its upward trend, while transportation and warehousing decreased by 17,700, paced by a decline in couriers and messengers.
Manufacturing edged lower by 5,000, broadly in line with economists’ expectations for a soft patch in factory activity late in the year. Across the rest of the private sector, employment was little changed in mining and logging, wholesale and retail trade, information, financial activities, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and other services.
Average hourly earnings for all private workers increased by 0.1% in November, or 5 cents, to $36.86. Over the past 12 months, average hourly pay rose 3.5%. The average workweek edged up by 0.1 hour to 34.3 hours. For production and nonsupervisory employees, hourly pay rose 0.3% to $31.76, and the workweek was unchanged at 33.7 hours.
Participation, underemployment and long-term joblessness
The labor force participation rate was 62.5% in November and has changed little over the past year. The employment-to-population ratio was 59.6%, also little changed. The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more was 1.9 million, accounting for 24.3% of all unemployed, a share that has been broadly stable in recent months.
Underemployment pressures increased. The number of people working part time for economic reasons was 5.5 million in November, up 909,000 since September. These workers would have preferred full-time roles but either saw their hours cut or could not find full-time positions. The number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job was 6.1 million, little changed, and the number marginally attached to the labor force was 1.8 million.
Demographic jobless rates were mixed. Teen unemployment rose to 16.3%, while jobless rates for adult men and women held at 4.1%. Among major racial and ethnic groups, unemployment rates showed little change for Whites (3.9%), Blacks (8.3%), Asians (3.6%), and Hispanics (5.0%).
