U.S. labor market surges in Nov.: Obama Administration says more can be done

As the labor market surged in November with employers adding 321,000 new jobs, the White House commented on its blog Dec. 6 that President Obama was elated with the positive job numbers, but said that there was more that can be done to help the economy.

The USA Today reported on Dec. 5 that the U.S. Labor Department came out with its report saying that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.8 percent, with businesses adding 314,000 jobs to the economy, while federal, state, and local governments added 7,000. Also, the Labor Department revised up job gains for September and October up by a total 44,000. September’s count was revised to 271,000 from 256,000 and October’s to 243,000 from 214,000.

In President Obama’s weekly address on Dec. 6, he highlighted the good news by saying that with American businesses adding 314,000 new jobs this past month, it makes November the tenth month in a row that the private sector has added at least 200,000 new jobs.

“Even with a full month to go, 2014 has already been the best year of job creation since the 1990s,” Obama said in his speech. “This number brings total private-sector job creation to 10.9 million over 57 consecutive months – the longest streak on record.”

“But even with this real, tangible evidence of our progress, there is always more that can be done. Congress needs to pass a budget and keep the government from a Christmas shutdown. We have an opportunity to work together to support the continued growth of higher-paying jobs by investing in infrastructure, reforming the business tax code, expanding markets for America’s goods and services, making common-sense reforms to the immigration system, and increasing the minimum wage.”

The USA Today also reported that jobs added last month were the most since January 2012 and only the second time this year that one-month gains exceeded 300,000. Some other labor market indicators were also positive.