On Friday, the US Department of Labor said that 146,000 jobs were added in November, while the unemployment rate dropped 0.2 percentage points to 7.7 percent, its lowest level since December 2008. The Labor Department said in a statement, "November's jobs reports means we've now seen 33 straight months of private sector job growth totaling nearly 5.6 million jobs. This year, we've created an average of 154,000 private sector jobs a month." Hurricane Sandy didn't impact the jobs report, according to the Labor Department.
Statistics Canada reported Friday that the unemployment rate in Canada declined 0.2 percentage points as well in November, falling to 7.2 percent. Compared with 12 months earlier, employment increased 1.7 percent or 294,000, mostly in full-time work. Year over year, employment gains totaled 187,000 (up 1.7 percent) among private sector employees, while public sector employment increased by 76,000 (up 2.1 percent).