WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. job gains accelerated and the jobless rate dropped to a near four-year low in November, the Labor Department reported on Friday.
The government report offered a mixed picture. Job creation beat market expectation but the decline of the unemployment rate was largely due to a shrinking labor force, which may suggest many people were simply giving up attempts to find work.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 146,000 in November despite the negative effects on the economy by superstorm Sandy, which slammed the Northeast coast. The unemployment rate fell from 7.9 percent in October to 7.7 percent in November, the lowest level since December 2008.
"The economy has now added private sector jobs for 33 straight months, and a total of 5.6 million jobs have been added during that period," said Alan B. Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, in a statement.
Adam Hersh, an economist at Washington-based think tank Center for American Progress, said the U.S. economy showed remarkable resilience despite the devastation from Hurricane Sandy, but still faces a number of risks. "The biggest of which remains the potential for self-inflicted damage from bad policy decisions."
With the "fiscal cliff" deadline only several weeks away, lawmakers are still at odds over how to avert it. The economy would get hit by a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts which are set to take effect in January unless Washington breaks a budget impasse.
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner said on Friday that the talks with U.S. President Barack Obama produced no progress, demanding a new offer from Obama to avert the "fiscal cliff."
Speaking at a Capitol Hill news conference, Boehner accused Obama of adopting "a deliberate strategy to slow-walk" the economy toward the edge of automatic spending cuts and tax hikes.
Boehner reiterated the GOP's resistance to a rise in the tax rates for the wealthy, saying that raising taxes on the more affluent would hit many small businesses that produce 60 percent to 70 percent of the new jobs for the country.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is due to hold its policy-setting meeting next week. The Fed is expected to stick to its ultra-loose policy stance. The market will focus on whether the central bank would take additional measures to shore up the economy as " Operation Twist" expires at the year end.
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