- Funding bill to avoid US shutdown wins Senate support
- US adds 210,000 jobs in November ahead of Omicron variant
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The US economy added 210,000 jobs in November, less than half the jobs growth that economists had expected, the Guardian’s Dominic Rushe reports. The data was compiled before the discovery of the Omicron coronavirus variant that now threatens to derail the economic recovery from the pandemic.
The unemployment rate dropped to 4.2% as employers added jobs in business services, transportation, warehousing and construction. The overall gain was less than half the 500,000 plus jobs that economists had expected to be added over the month.
November’s jobs report comes after the US added 531,000 in October, a sharp increase after a slowdown in hiring triggered by the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant over the summer.