The rate of US unemployment made a surprise fall last month as American employers cut the fewest jobs since the recession began in December 2007.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that 11,000 workers were made redundant last month, down from 111,000 in October, when the unemployment rate hit a 26-year high of 10.2 per cent.
Economists had expected 125,000 job losses in November to keep the jobless rate at 10.2 per cent.
The 11,000 job cuts marked the best number revealed by the BLS since December 2007, when employers added 120,000 workers.
Since that month, when the US economy slipped into recession, 7.9 million jobs have been lost. Last month, the world’s biggest economy emerged from recession.
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The BLS’s non-farms payroll data takes in all employees except those working on farms or for the Government, private households or for non-profit organisations.
The unemployment rate, however, is calculated from a survey of households rather than employers.
The numbers are likely to come as a relief for the White House. President Obama has been criticised for failing to reduce the unemployment rate despite putting aside $787 billion in stimulus funding to boost the economy.
Although the US economy grew by 2.8 per cent in the third quarter, its first expansion after four consecutive quarters of shrinkage, the unemployment rate has remained high as companies squeezed more productivity from existing workers but were too nervous to take on new employees.
Yesterday the President held a jobs summit at which he said that he would explore every avenue to create jobs.
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“With one in ten Americans out of work, and millions more underemployed, not having enough hours to support themselves, this is a struggle that cuts deep, and it touches people across this nation,” he said.