U.S. economy adds 146K jobs; jobless rate falls to 7.7%

The U.S. economy added 146,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7%—the lowest it has been since December 2008—according to a Labor Department report released this morning. The government says Superstorm Sandy had only a minimal effect on the figures in the report, which offers a mixed picture of the economy. Hiring remained steady during the storm’s aftermath and in the face of looming tax increases. But the government says employers added 49,000 fewer jobs in October and September than it initially estimated and that the unemployment rate fell to a four-year low in November from 7.9% in October mostly because more people stopped looking for work and weren’t counted as unemployed. The report “is something of a mixed bag but, on balance, it’s a positive,” says Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics. Sandy’s effect on the figures was much smaller than many analysts had predicted. Still, there were signs that the storm disrupted economic activity. Construction employment dropped 20,000. And weather prevented 369,000 people from getting to work—the most for any month in nearly two years. The Associated Press has more details in the full story here.