Unemployment Rate Expected to Hold Steady at 7.9%

The BLS ("Bureau of Labor Statistics") will be releasing the November employment numbers on Friday morning.

The consensus economist forecast is the the US economy added 93,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in November, down from 171,000 in October. Economists believe that the national unemployment rate held steady at 7.9% in November.

A number of economists believe that the 93,000 figure is far too high thanks to Hurricane Sandy. Sandy, which struck in late October, caused havoc in a number of metropolitan areas on the east coast, and some economists believe that the natural disaster had a larger than expected negative impact on hiring.

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The national unemployment rate currently sits at 7.9%. Here are the monthly unemployment numbers for 2012 up until this point:

January 2012 - 8.3%
February 2012 - 8.3%
March 2012 - 8.2%
April 2012 - 8.1%
May 2012 - 8.2%
June 2012 - 8.2%
July 2012 - 8.3%
August 2012 - 8.1%
September 2012 - 7.8%
October 2012 - 7.9%

Non-Farm Payroll Jobs Added

January 2012 - 275,000
February 2012 - 259,000
March 2012 - 143,000
April 2012 - 68,000
May 2012 - 87,000
June 2012 - 45,000
July 2012 - 181,000
August 2012 - 192,000
September 2012 - 148,000
October 2012 - 171,000

Source: Historical Unemployment Rates

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