While the unemployment rate held steady at 5.8 percent in November, austerity measures appear to be holding back the labor market recovery, according to a pair of government reports.
The employment report published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 321,000 jobs were added to payrolls in November. However, for the second straight month, the public sector increased payrolls by only 7,000 jobs–down from 22,000 in September.
A separate analysis by the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the deficit was reduced in October and November on a year-over-year basis by between $9 and $45 billion. The uncertainty lies in the timing of payments last year due to Dec. 1, 2013 falling on a weekend.
Since the second half of 2010, BLS data shows that the public sector at all levels has shed about 365,000 jobs. About 335,000 of those losses have come at the federal level, which reached a post-census peak of employment in July 2010.
