WASHINGTON —The U.S. unemployment rate dropped 0.4% in November, to 4.2%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. But BLS, the Economic Policy Institute, and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research all noted mixed numbers behind that positive decline.

The number of unemployed declined by 542,000, to 6.877 million, BLS said. And there were 1.155 million more people working in November than in October, with the total rising to 155.175 million. That’s 5.366 million more people in jobs than in November 2020, when the nation was in the midst of the coronavirus-closure-caused economic crash.

That was good news. Other good news came in monthly increases in factory workers (+31,000, to 12.546 million) and construction workers (+31,000, to 7.533 million). And bosses, forced to compete for workers, are actually raising pay.

Read the full article.