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US Job Growth Tanks at the Worst Possible Moment of 2020

This adds an entirely new air of desperation to the COVID stimulus talks.

Folks, it’s crunch time for this nation.

We’ve endured 9+ months of pandemic fear and the economic turbulence that it has brought with it.  We were given a small sliver of relief by Congress early on in the crisis, but with cases worsening, the public servants in The Beltway appear to have forgotten who they work for.  There is only a slim chance that a svelte stimulus package could make it to the Senate floor now, and there’s no telling if it would be enough to stave off a mass wave of evictions coming at the end of this month.

And there is another economic pressure beginning to boil that few have begun to talk about:  The consumer confidence boost that our economy relies on at Christmastime that may or may not exist this year, due to the lack of stimulus being provided to the American people.

Oh, and to make matters worse, the jobs report for this month is no bueno. 

The U.S. economy added 245,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate ticked down to 6.7 percent, according to data released Friday.

Economists surveyed by Econoday had forecast 500,000 jobs and a decline in the unemployment rate to 6.8 percent, one-tenth of a percent October’s 6.9 percent.

The job gains for September were revised up by 39,000 to 711,000, and the change for October was revised down by 28,000, from 610,000. With these revisions, employment in September and October combined was 11,000 more than previously reported.

The private sector added 344,000 jobs in November. October’s private-sector jobs growth was revised day from 906,000 to 877,000. September’s was revised up from 892,000 to 930,000. While this means the private sector had added nine thousand more jobs than previously thought, it also indicates that the trend in private sector employment gains has been weakening for months instead of bouncing up and down.

Congress, are you listening?

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