Surprise drop in US jobless rate in Nov

The US unemployment rate unexpectedly declined to 10 per cent in November.

The US unemployment rate unexpectedly declined to 10 per cent in November,the lowest jobless rate since the world’s largest economy slipped into one of its worst recessions two years ago.

Indicating that the labour market is slowly improving,the jobless rate has slipped in November from a 26-year-high of 10.2 per cent in October.

The non-farm payroll shrank by only 11,000 in November whereas the job losses averaged 1,35,000 in the previous three months,according to the US Labour Department here on Friday.

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Analysts were anticipating the jobless rate to remain at 10.2 per cent,with more number of job cuts.

“The unemployment rate edged down to 10 per cent in November,and non-farm payroll employment was essentially unchanged (-11,000),” the Labour Department said in a statement on Friday.

The job losses in November is the lowest for any month since the US entered into recession in December 2007.

Last month,the employment fell in the construction,manufacturing,and information sectors while temporary help services and healthcare saw addition of new jobs.

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According to the official figures,the count of jobless persons stood at 15.4 million in November. A whopping 7.9 million jobs have vanished since the start of the worst recession in American history after the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Battered by the worst financial turmoil in nearly 80 years,American companies have slashed payrolls as part of their efforts to trim costs.