In a reversal of the predictions of job growth by economists, the US employers hired only 210,000 more workers in November, while the unemployment rate fell to 4.2 percent from 4.6 percent in October.
More Americans returned to the workforce and wages went up month-on-month.
President Joe Biden described the jobs recovery as very strong Today's historic drop in unemployment rates included dramatic improvements for workers, he said.
Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton, said the trend is in the right direction. The labour market is healing much more quickly than expected, despite the miss in payrolls, as quoted by the BBC.
The outlook for the U.S. economy is becoming complicated by the arrival of the Omicron strain of the coronaviruses, according to others.
Charles Hepworth, investment director at GAM Investments, said that the new coronavirus Omicron variant, which has yet to fully establish itself in the U.S., is the real unknown variable in relation to the pace of the jobs recovery. This weak reading shifts the narrative of the first hike earlier in the year to perhaps a bit later now. Employment in the retail sector fell by 20,000 workers, while employment in leisure and hospitality rose by only 23,000 jobs and is nearly 8 percent less than before the Covid epidemic began.
The Bureau of Labour Statistics said there had been a rise in hiring in areas such as professional and business services, as well as transport and warehousing.
The bureau said construction and manufacturing had added new jobs.
In October, figures were revised upward to show that 546,000 jobs were added, but millions of Americans still don't return to work, leaving the total workforce much smaller than before the epidemic. There are issues with childcare and concerns about the Covid infection.
There are still 3.9 million fewer people in the workforce compared to February 2020, despite an increase in the number of people working or looking for work, known as the participation rate.