The US unemployment rate shot up to 6 per cent in November and employers hacked their payrolls by the largest amount since February, the government said today.
The jobless rate hit its highest level since April, according to the Labor Department. The rate vaulted three-tenths of a percentage point from October's 5.7 per cent. Private economists had been braced for an increase in that rate to only 5.8 per cent.
The number of workers on US payrolls outside the farm sector tumbled by 40,000 workers last month.
In one somewhat positive sign, however, the government revised up the payrolls figures for both October and September. October payrolls were updated to show a 6,000 rise compared to the previously reported 5,000 drop.
Jobs fell by 4,000 in September, a milder drop than the previously reported 13,000 decline.