Unemployment Fell in November, Hitting Lowest Level in Two and a Half Years

Updated: December 2, 2011 | 9:37 a.m.
December 2, 2011 | 8:40 a.m.

The unemployment rate dropped to 8.6 percent in November, the lowest level since March 2009, the Labor Department reported on Friday.

The economy added 120,000 new jobs in November, in line with economists’ expectations of an increase of 122,000, according to Reuters. That’s just shy of the 125,000 most economists say the labor market needs to gain to keep the unemployment rate steady. Bringing the rate down a percentage point over a year would take closer to 200,000 new jobs each month.

The Labor Department revised upward the number of jobs added in September and October to 210,000 and 100,000, respectively. The October unemployment rate was 9.0 percent.

Futures were up after the jobs number was released.

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