U.S. Jobs Report Revised to Fix Errors

The Labor Department issued a fresh version of its closely watched employment report after it found an error in payroll figures for October and September.

But even after the government overhauled the jobs report, which was released Friday, the basic message was the same: that the labor market remains in the doldrums in the aftermath of last year’s recession.

The revisions left the payroll number for November unchanged at a drop of 40,000.

However, October payrolls were revised upward to a gain of 86,000 from a previously reported gain of 6,000. September payrolls were ratcheted downward to a job loss of 84,000 versus the previously stated decline of 4,000. The changes to the two months offset each other.

The revisions did not affect the unemployment rate, which is based on a survey of households and is separate from the survey of business establishments that is used to compute the payroll numbers.

The jobless rate shot up to 6% in November from 5.7% in October.

The overall figures for the length of the workweek were not affected by the revisions. November’s average workweek stayed steady at 34.2 hours, and average hourly earnings rose 0.3% to $14.93.