November US jobs report: Sure sign or just a blip?

VIDEO: Morningstar's Bob Johnson and Vishnu Lekraj on the sustainability of the much-better-than-expected November employment situation

Jason Stipp | 04-12-09 | E-mail Article

US non-farm payrolls dropped just 11,000 in November—in stark contrast to the previous month, when 111,000 workers were knocked off the payroll—surprising everyone as consensus had been for a drop in the region of 120,000-150,000. The relatively small number of job losses was the best showing since the US fell into recession two years ago. The unemployment rate, which had been forecast to at least remain at October’s 10.2% level or to perhaps tick up a few fractions of a percent, edged down to 10.0% last month. In this video, Morningstar associate director of economic analysis Bob Johnson and equity analyst Vishnu Lekraj tell Morningstar.com site editor Jason Stipp what they think of these surprising numbers.

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