The unemployment rate dropped in November to 8.6%, the lowest in more than two and a half years, while the economy added 120,000 jobs, including 3,600 trucking jobs, the Labor Department said Friday.
Total transportation and warehousing sector employment rose by 8,300 workers, Labor figures showed.
The unemployment rate, which fell from 9% in October, marked the lowest level since March 2009.
Economists had projected that the unemployment rate would hold at 9% and the jobs gain was slightly below economists’ forecasts of 125,000, Bloomberg reported.
The payrolls gain followed a revised 100,000 increase in October that was larger than the 80,000 originally reported.
The payroll and unemployment figures are obtained by separate surveys, with payrolls from a survey of employers and the unemployment rate from a survey of households.
Factory employment edged up by 2,000 after a 6,000 increase the previous month, while service employment climbed by 126,000 jobs.
Private hiring rose by 140,000 jobs after a revised gain of 117,000 the previous month. Government payrolls decreased by 20,000.
