U.S. recovery appears firmer as unemployment drops

The Fed cut interest rates close to zero last December and has pumped more than $1 trillion (606 billion pounds) into the economy to try to spur recovery from the worst recession in 70 years.

Since December 2007 when the recession began, 7.2 million jobs have been lost, the Labour Department said. But the pace of lay-offs has slowed sharply from early this year.

The November data was the strongest since December 2007, when non-farm payrolls increased by 120,000.

The government added jobs for a second straight month, and payrolls grew in education and health services, as well as professional services. All told, the service-providing sector added 58,000 workers, up from an addition of 2,000 jobs in October.

At the same time, job losses on the goods-producing side of the economy slowed.

Manufacturing payrolls fell by 41,000 after dropping 51,000 in October, and the construction sector shed 27,000 jobs, a sharp easing from the average 63,000 decline in the prior six months.

A rise in temporary hiring and an increase in the length of the average workweek offered a suggestion that companies may start to hire permanent staff not too far down the road.

However, there were weak points. About 5.9 million Americans had been out of work for more than 27 weeks last month, representing 38.3 percent of the total unemployed.

In addition, the average duration of unemployment touched a record 28.5 weeks.

For a graphic on the US jobs and unemployment data click on: http://link.reuters.com/vyk25g