Jobs still are a problem area.

Far Fewer Jobs Were Added in November Than Forecast
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
NY Times
Published: December 4, 2004

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 - The economy added 112,000 payroll jobs in November, far fewer than the month before and not enough to keep up with average increases in the adult population, the Labor Department reported on Friday. The gain was well below Wall Street forecasts, and employment in manufacturing was flat for the third consecutive month. The modest pace of job creation, along with a small decline in the number of hours worked, reinforced the image of an economy that is expanding more slowly and in which companies remain skittish about hiring more people.

Many analysts were stunned last month when the government reported a spectacular jump of 337,000 jobs in October. But on Friday, many said that last month's jump was mostly an aberration from the more enduring trend of slow growth in jobs and wages.

The report cast a shadow on expectations for holiday spending this year, given that consumers face higher gasoline and heating prices without much rise in real personal income.

Three years after the last recession officially ended in November 2001, the rebound in jobs remains slower than in any previous economic recovery since World War II. Unemployment inched down by 0.1 percent last month, to 5.4 percent, but the United States still has at least 200,000 fewer jobs than it did before the recession began. At the same time, the adult population has grown by about 4 million.

So far this year, the economy has added about 2 million jobs, an average of about 185,000 jobs a month. Economists estimate that the nation needs to generate about 150,000 jobs a month to keep up with the increase in population, which means that employment is keeping slightly ahead of job seekers.