(Bloomberg) -- U.S. job growth slowed in November, posting the smallest increase this year, underscoring employers’ struggle to attract workers to fill millions of vacancies as the pandemic persists.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 210,000 last month after an upwardly revised 546,000 gain in October, a Labor Department report showed Friday. The unemployment rate fell to 4.2% while the labor force participation rate edged up to 61.8%.

The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 550,000 payrolls gain and for the jobless rate to fall to 4.5%. 

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