The US unemployment rate dipped in November to a four-year low of 7.7 per cent, dpa cithe the federal Bureau of Labour Statistics as saying on Friday. Seasonally adjusted, non-farm payrolls expanded by 146,000 in November. Unemployment had ticked up to 7.9 per cent in October, in data issued four days before the November 6 presidential elections, from 7.8 per cent in September. The rate in November 2011 was 8.7 per cent, slowly easing from a peak near 10 per cent in the wake of the 2007-09 recession. Job gains were seen in the retail, health care, and professional and business services sectors. The payroll report exceeded the median estimate of 85,000 jobs from a survey by Bloomberg news of 91 Wall Street economists. The unemployment rate of 7.7 per cent is the lowest since December 2008 - a month before President Barack Obama took office. -- SPA
