Following the release of the Labor Department's November jobs report, various politicians chimed in to give their opinions on what the numbers mean.
The report, released Friday morning, showed that the U.S. lost 11,000 jobs in November. This was significantly fewer than the 125,000 jobs analysts had expected the U.S. to lose for the month, and was a major improvement over the revised loss of 111,000 jobs in October.
In addition, the report showed the unemployment rate dropped to 10% for November, down from the 10.2% it had reached in October.
After the report was released, Christina Romer, chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said the numbers indicated that the U.S. is, by far, at the "closest we have been to stable employment since the recession began almost two years ago."
However, Romer did note that the 10% unemployment rate still remains "unacceptably high," despite the fact that it dropped slightly from October.
"This underscores the need for the responsible actions to jumpstart private-sector job creation that the President highlighted at yesterday's Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth at the White House," Romer said.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama, while speaking in Allentown, Pennsylvania, said that the numbers show that the U.S. is on the right track, but he noted that there is still much work to do.
"I consider one job lost to be one too many," Obama said.
Senator Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said that the jobs number "shows continuing improvement in employment levels," but also shows "there is still a clear need for Congress and the Obama administration to make jobs an immediate priority."
He said that the White House jobs summit held earlier in the week "was a good starting point to put the focus on jobs, but we must follow through with real action."
House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, on the other hand, said, "After yet another month of job losses, it's clear that one question President Obama is sure to get on his 'listening tour' is: 'where are the jobs?'"
He argued that more than three million Americans "have lost their jobs since the president signed the trillion-dollar 'stimulus' that was supposed to keep unemployment below 8 percent and put people back to work 'immediately.'"
Boehner said he was confident that the economy will recover, but he said "it will do so because of the hard work and entrepreneurship of the American people, not wasteful Washington spending."
Representative John Kline, R-Minn., was also critical of the Democrats, arguing, "Any reduction in unemployment is welcome news, but a 10 percent unemployment rate is certainly not cause for celebration."
"Democrats in Congress and the White House remain stubbornly committed to a job-killing agenda that includes card check, cap-and-tax, a government takeover of health care, and deficits as far as the eye can see," Kline said.
He added that to consider these numbers as a sign that the U.S. is in an economic recovery "is an affront to the workers who remain jobless and the small businesses too uncertain to grow and hire because of the litany of economic threats looming in Washington."
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.