Unemployment Rate Falls as Private Jobs Rise

Washington, DC, Dec. 2, 2011 -- The U.S. economy created 120,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 8.6%, its lowest level in more than two and a half years, the Labor Department said.

The increase in hiring took place entirely in the private sector, with employment rising by 140,000.

Governments cut 20,000 jobs last month to put the total loss over the past two years at around 600,000.

The reduction in the jobless rate, which stood at 9.0% in October, stemmed in large part from a decline in the size of the labor force. About 315,000 people stopped looking for jobs last month.

The increase in hiring in November was accompanied by revisions in the October and September data that show an additional 72,000 jobs were created.

Also, the labor force had increased by nearly 1 million people in the three months before November, suggesting that more jobs are available.