There’s also still weakness in the household survey, which only samples 60,000 households—versus the 131,000 businesses and government agencies that the larger establishment survey samples—but it captures different slices of the labor market, including farm workers, the self-employed, nannies and other workers in private households, and people on unpaid leave from their jobs.

There were 138,000 Americans who became unemployed in November and fewer Americans were actively looking for a job, according to the household survey.

That’s bad news for the affected workers and their families, but it won’t be enough to stop the Fed in its quest to bring inflation under control.

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