The U.S. job market bounced back in November, adding 227,000 jobs (adjusted for seasonal changes), according to a new report from the Labor Department.
The job market managed to bounce back following slow months of growth, yet the unemployment rate also slightly increased from 4.1% to 4.2%, which is a change that many expected to be reported, according to Fox Business.
This November report comes following reports from September and October that were revised higher, as the September report increased by 32,000 jobs and the October report increased by 24,000 jobs.
A large portion of the jobs added in November –194,000 — came from the private sector, which is the largest proportion of any industry in the report but is also below the expectation that 200,000 jobs would be added, according to Fox Business.
One area of the report causing concern is the lack of jobs being added in the retail industry, which has not added jobs over the past year and has decreased by 28,000 positions in the latest report, according to The New York Times.
Cory Stahle, an economist at Indeed, told CNN that the new report is a “little bit of a mixed bag” with the increases in unemployment, noting that the “momentum does seem to be in a positive direction, by and large.”
Although Stahle claims that these reports indicate an upward trend in the job market, many other experts on the matter have questioned whether the market is in a healthy spot.
Noah Yosif, chief economist for the American Staffing Association, said that the job market is currently in good shape but it has been “trending in an unhealthy direction” for the past few months.
“What we’re seeing is really a K-shaped duality of outcomes for the labor market: It’s good if you have a job, but it’s very, very difficult if you don’t have a job,” he added, per CNN.
Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, also applauded the growth of the job market but explained that the rise in unemployment could create negative changes in December.
“The economy continues to produce a healthy amount of job and income gains, but a further increase in the unemployment rate tempers some of the shine in the labor market and gives the Fed what it needs to cut rates in December,” she said, per Fox Business.