Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The U.S. economy added 245,000 jobs in November, the Labor Department said in its monthly report Friday -- widely missing the mark most experts predicted.
The department said the national unemployment rate fell to 6.7% for the month. Although that's down from a high of 14.7% in April, the rate is still nearly twice what it was before the pandemic.
Analysts had expected about 470,000 new jobs for the month.
"These improvements in the labor market reflect the continued resumption of economic activity that had been curtailed due to the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to contain it," the department said in its report.
"However, the pace of improvement in the labor market has moderated in recent months. In November, notable job gains occurred in transportation and warehousing, professional and business services, and healthcare. Employment declined in government and retail trade."
Thursday, the Labor Department said another 700,000 U.S. workers have filed new unemployment claims -- a pandemic-era low, but three times higher than the pre-pandemic average.
Job growth has slowed considerably in recent weeks and months as the virus spread further, prompting states and cities to re-shutter large numbers of businesses.
ADP and Moody's Analytics said in their monthly report Wednesday that private-sector jobs grew by 307,000 in November.
