WATCH LIVE: Vance delivers remarks in Allentown, Pennsylvania, touting Trump’s economic agenda

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States gained 64,000 good jobs in November but lost 105,000 in October as federal workers left after cuts made by the Trump administration, the government said in late reports.

Vance is scheduled to speak at 11 a.m. ET. Watch in the player above.

The unemployment rate rose to 4.6% last month, the highest level since 2021.

Job gains in November were higher than economists’ expectations of 40,000. The October job losses resulted from a 162,000 decline in federal employees, many of whom resigned at the end of the 2025 fiscal year on September 30 under pressure from billionaire Elon Musk’s campaign to clean up US government payrolls.

The Labor Department’s audits also eliminated 33,000 jobs from the August and September payrolls.

Hiring has clearly lost momentum, hampered by uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the lingering effects of higher interest rates designed by the Federal Reserve in 2022 and 2023 to rein in the tide of inflation. Since March, job creation has declined to an average of 35,000 jobs per month, compared to 71,000 in the year ending in March.

Job creation numbers for October and November, released by the Labor Department on Tuesday, were delayed by the 43-day federal government shutdown. These delays have made deliberations more difficult at the Federal Reserve, where policymakers are divided over whether the labor market needs more help from lower interest rates.

Concerns about the labor market were enough to prompt the Federal Reserve to cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point last week for the third time this year. But three Fed officials refused to approve the move, the largest number of opponents in six years. Two voted to keep the interest rate unchanged while inflation remains above the central bank’s target of 2%. Stephen Meiran, whom Trump appointed to the Fed’s Board of Governors in September, voted for a deeper cut — in line with what the president is demanding.

Tuesday’s report shows that “the labor market remains weak, but the pace of deterioration may be too slow to prompt the (Federal) to ease again in January,” Samuel Toombs, chief U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a commentary. The Federal Reserve holds its next policy meeting from January 27-28.

The unemployment rate, although still modest by historical standards, has risen since reaching a 54-year low of 3.4% in April 2023. It rose from 4.4% in September, and the number of people in the labor force – those working or looking for work – increased by 323,000 people compared to September. Price for October was not available due to the lockdown.

Those pickup trucks likely reflect former federal workers looking for new jobs, said Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council. “What’s probably happening is that the 250,000 federal government employees who agreed to the buyout remain in the workforce and are looking for work,” Hassett told reporters, and are therefore considered unemployed until they find new jobs.

The latest job numbers could decline in the coming months. Last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank believes hiring has been outpaced by about 60,000 jobs per month since the spring. “You could say the labor market has continued to slow gradually, perhaps just a touch more gradually than we thought,” Powell said at a news conference.

Average hourly wages for workers rose just 0.1% from October, the smallest increase since August 2023. Compared to the previous year, wages rose 3.5%, the lowest level since May 2021.

Health care employers added more than 46,000 jobs in November, accounting for more than two-thirds of the 69,000 private sector jobs created last month. Construction companies added 28,000 jobs. The manufacturing sector shed jobs for the seventh straight month, shedding 5,000 jobs in November.

“The bottom line is that the labor market remains in a relatively weak position, with employers showing little appetite to hire, but also reluctant to let go,” Thomas Veltmait, chief economist at TD Economics, wrote in a commentary. “However, labor demand has slowed more than supply in recent months, which is behind the steady upward drift in the unemployment rate.”

Adding to the uncertainty is the increasing use of artificial intelligence and other technologies that could reduce demand for workers.

“We’re in the Lehigh Valley, which is a major transportation hub in eastern Pennsylvania,” said Matt Hobby, vice president of staffing firm HealthSkil in Allentown. “We have seen some calm in the logistics and transportation markets, especially because we have seen automation in those sectors, i.e. robotics.”

Due to the government shutdown, many agencies are trying to catch up on economic data.

The Labor Department finally released its September jobs report on November 20, seven weeks late. It published some October data — including the number of jobs created that month by companies, nonprofits and government agencies — alongside the November report on Tuesday.

American companies mostly keep their employees. But they are hesitant to hire new employees as they struggle to evaluate how to use artificial intelligence and how to adapt to Trump’s unpredictable policies, especially the taxes he imposes on imports from around the world.

The uncertainty leaves job seekers struggling to find work.

In May, Amy Beckrich, 54, of Farmington, Minn., lost her human relations job at a consulting firm. I have since applied for over 100 jobs. Even landing interviews are difficult. I finally got one, waited 20 minutes, and the recruiter never showed up

Her unemployment benefits ran out this month. “It’s hard to go on holidays without any prospects or income,” she said. Her husband is still working, but they have had to cut back on their salaries. They have put off replacing their car and rarely go out to eat anymore.

“I feel like the hiring system is broken,” she said. “The human factor has completely disappeared.”

AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this story.