Employers in the United States added 256,000 workers to their payrolls in November, the Department of Labor said Friday, and the unemployment rate declined to 4.1 percent.
Economists had been expecting 153,000 jobs and an unemployment rate unchanged at 4.2 percent. The prior month’s jobs figure was revised down to 212,000 from 227,000.
Most of the job creation in December came from the private sector, which added 223,000 workers. Economists had forecast just 130,000 private sector jobs.