added 321,000 jobs. that s the best monthly add november since november of 2012, but and there are always buts on job report friday the unemployment remains at 5.8 unemployment. and the labor participation pace stayed at near record lows at 62.8%. that means what is keeping the unemployment rate below 6% is that many, many americans have given up looking for work. the firm of bernstein joins us to dissect those numbers. 321,000 is really good. we also saw a little problem on the wages. a little bit. yeah, there was a nine-cent bump in hourly wages. that s actually good for a monthly number. however, you really have to look at the wage numbers year over year and so wages continue to grow at about 2%, as they have for the last few years. interesting, that s actually now beating inflation because,
get some wage gains here. people are suffering because they re not making enough money. the other factor is the number of people actually participating in the work force. it s been really super low. not so low since the 70s, since before women got in the work force, 62.8%. not a big improvement there. the youth, which is a broad number of unemployment. 11.4. still not great. but some real improvement there. improvement all over this place. gas prices going down, wages going up. love that. makes santa a little better. a little oh oh oh a little ho-ho-ho for you. more headlines. former washington mayor marion berry departed city hall one last time today as pallbearers carried this casket down the steps. the mayor for life s body is now at a church for public viewing ahead of a memorial service tonight. marion berry died last week at 78.
lowest level in nearly six years. the real unemployment rate is down to 12.1%. ed henry reporting live from the white house. what did the president have to say about these new numbers? reporter: he s cheerleading the economy right now. there was good news in this job report. when you mention that real unemployment rate, what you re referring to is when you factor in the number of people who have simply given up looking for work and that gets at the labor participation rate, which is stuck for three months in a row now at 62.8%. why that s significant, that s the lowest labor participation rate since 1978. it gives you an idea of a mixed picture in the jobs market, number one. number two, there s a high percentage of part-time jobs. not full-time jobs being created. nonetheless, the president is trying to make an election year pitch that progress is being made. listen. we have now seen the fastest job growth in the united states
what are these jobs? many of these jobs are lower wage positions, and the service industry and health care industry, social assistance. so what s happening are a lot of american families are having to learn to live on less. so when many of us ordinary people are watching these numbers, you re also saying, wait a minute, you know, the economy is booming, the me economy is recovering, what about me? what about my family? yeah, you know, it s almost like i don t feel it, you know. you stick your finger up in the air, and the wind is not blowing your direction sometimes. but let s took at a couple numbers quickly, carol lynn, like the really unemployment number. 62.8%. that s the labor participation rate. so that means what is it that mean? people aren t going to look for jobs? labor participation rate is actually anyone 16 and over who is actively looking for a job or who is employed. and one of the numbers and one of the sectors the factors really being hit hard here are
would say too much slack in the job market. i want you to hit on that market as well. the job numbers is a pretty good barometer of where the economy is at. it is also confusing. as josh pointed to, there are 217,000 new jobs added last month. at the same time, we are seeing long-term unemployment pretty much unchanged. labor participation sitting at 62.8%. those are the two numbers that continue to alarm me. what should we read from those numbers in terms of where we are at in this recovery? think of it is aan automobile. we are stuck in second gear. we ought to be in fourth gear and cruising at 70 miles an hour, creating 400,000-500,000 jobs a month. we simply are not. this has been the story of 21st century america. since 2000, we have created maybe 600,000 jobs a year. over resessions where you lose them. during both periods, we had