US job growth slows down in November
Job growth in the US stayed pretty sluggish last month, with just 64,000 new jobs added in November after a big drop in October.
The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.6%, which is the highest it's been since 2021.
Even though there are more job openings out there, people aren't getting hired as quickly, and long-term unemployment is creeping up.
Shutdown and paychecks: What's going on?
The recent government shutdown made a mess of labor market data, forcing officials to combine October and November numbers because the shutdown prevented normal data collection.
Wages barely budged—average hourly pay went up by only 0.1% in November—and overall wage growth has slowed compared to earlier this year.
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates to help out, but not everyone agrees on what should happen next.