U.S. economy adds 245,000 jobs in November as recovery slows

Data: BLS; Chart: Axios Visuals

The U.S. economy added 245,000 jobs in November, while the unemployment rate fell to 6.7% from 6.9%, the government said on Friday.

Why it matters: The labor market continues to recover even as coronavirus cases surge— though it's still millions of jobs short of the pre-pandemic level. The problem is that the rate of recovery is slowing significantly.

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• The number of jobs gained last month is down sharply from the gain of 610,000 jobs seen in October. It's the kind of number you see during a normal expansion, rather than during a sharp rebound from pandemic lows.
• The U.S. still has 9.8 million fewer jobs than it had in February. That's a bigger job decline than during the depths of the Great Recession.