Official figures show that US employers added 94,000 jobs in November. The report shows a slowdown in job creation in recent months which is seen as raising the chances of a modest cut in interest rates from the Federal Reserve next week.
The Labor Department said the national unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.7% in November, but it substantially revised lower its estimates for job growth in the two previous months.
The department revised its estimate for October job creation to 170,000 instead of 166,000 it reported a month ago but slashed its estimate for September new jobs to 44,000 from 96,000.
The November new jobs total, however, came in slightly ahead of forecasts by Wall Street economists for 90,000 jobs.
The jobs report showed a loss of 33,000 jobs in goods-producing industries during November while 127,000 jobs were created in service-providing businesses. Manufacturing industries continued to shed employees, cutting 11,000 jobs last month on top of the 15,000 that were dropped in October.
