146,000 Jobs Added In November; Unemployment Falls To 7.7 Percent; Activists Defy Egypt's President Again
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM. Surprise jump in the jobs report, 146,000 jobs added. The unemployment rate hits a four-year low. In abroad, Japan is cleaning up after being jolted by a powerful earthquake. The bizarre saga of John McAfee takes another strange turn. The software pioneer rushed to the hospital after a bid for asylum is rejected. And tracking your texts, why some police officers want the power to investigate your messages. NEWSROOM starts right now. Good morning, everyone. I'm Don Lemon in for Carol Costello this morning. A surprising snapshot of the economy today, the jobless rate has fallen to its lowest level in four years. Let's check the numbers now from the Labor Department, 146,000 jobs were added in November and unemployment fell to 7.7 percent. Compare that to October when 138,000 jobs were added. Ali Velshi joins us to talk about today's report. Good morning, sir. Was this what you expected? What happened?</s>ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No. It's not what anybody expected, which is why this is confusing. We were expecting the unemployment rate to go up from 7.9 percent to 8 percent and we're expecting about 77,000 jobs created and we got 146,000. Here's the problem. Normally, needed two different surveys, the unemployment rate and the number of jobs lost or created are determined two different ways. They are usually done by surveys in the same week. In November, they moved up the unemployment rate survey a week earlier so that they wouldn't complicate things with Thanksgiving and some people are worried that it got affected by Hurricane Sandy. Some people weren't in their homes and didn't have power, whatever the case is. The Labor Department says not so, but important whatever reason. There are a lot people who are not sure -- they are not doubting the veracity of these numbers, Don. They are just saying there might be some statistic anomalies here. Bottom line, if it is what it is, then it shows continued strengthening in the labor force. The unemployment number, I have often said don't play too much attention to that. You want to look at how many jobs are created. We went from 138,000 in October to 146,000 in November. I would like to get three months from now, Don, to look back and see what the trend looks like. But if it is what it is, then it shows slow and steady growth in the job market, slower than expected. Here is a point for you, Don, that is very interesting. For years now, we have seen a very substantial spread between whites and blacks unemployment rate in the United States. That gap narrowed a little bit this time around. Again, I have to dig deeper to find out where and why it narrowed. It shows a bit of an improvement for African-Americans in the unemployment situation. Beyond that, it is -- the standard stuff that you normally expect.</s>LEMON: Yes. There was a huge disparity there. Checking the numbers --</s>VELSHI: Yes. There still is. There still is. It is just -- the gap is narrowing a little bit.</s>LEMON: Ali Velshi, I love talking money with Ali Velshi in the morning.</s>VELSHI: Always my pleasure.</s>LEMON: Get on there, get on Twitter and let's chat. Thank you, sir. We are getting reaction from the Obama administration now, which has been closely monitoring the numbers in Washington. That's where we find the White House correspondent Brianna Keilar. We hope the leaf blower is done, Brianna. So what do you hear?</s>BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No leaf blower, no jackhammer. We are getting reaction from the White House, obviously. They saw this positively, Don, no surprise. This is coming from Alan Krueger, the chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. It says while more work remains to be done, today's employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to heal and continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the great depression. This is obviously similar to what we've heard in past months, but the President or -- certainly the White House pointing to this as proof that his economic policies should continue specifically in this reaction. They point to that Bush era tax cut for middle class Americans that's set to expire along with tax cuts for all Americans here at the end of the year saying that that needs to get pushed through. We are not seeing really the frenzy, obviously. We got so used to that frenzy of reaction coming out ahead of the election. It certainly not as frenzy we haven't heard -- we've heard from the RNC. I will say they say similar to what they always say. While a downtick in the unemployment rate is welcome news, too many families are still falling behind and unemployment remains painfully high, and conversely to what President Obama or what the White House saying pointing to his policies as not working for the economy. We haven't heard from the Speaker's office I don't believe yet, but he will be talking before cameras at 11:00 a.m. so we'll likely get reaction there, Don.</s>LEMON: Brianna Keilar, thank you, Brianna. Want on go to Wall Street now where for now at least the markets like what they saw this morning, all three indexes trading in positive territory. Alison Kosik is who we are going to go to the New York Stock Exchange. So Alison, tell me what's going on?</s>ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Don, actually we are seeing the Nasdaq dip a bit into negative territory. You are seeing a mixed bag at this point. You know, you see the build-up to the release of this report. Investors, they have been cautious all week heading into this report. The expectation was that there will be a really weak number coming out of this instead a surprise to the upside. Report was basically double what everybody was expecting. Still you are seeing a lot of caution here on Wall Street because many of the jobs that were added were seasonable ones. This is sort of the reality check with this. When you look at the number of retail jobs added, 53,000, a good portion of those were those temporary jobs for the holiday shopping season. But come on, a surprise to the upside better than the alternative. So even with the quirks the reading gave some evidence the economy at least jobs part of it is holding steady despite the uncertainty about the fiscal cliff, as well. So the number, of course, isn't going to be impacting the Federal Reserve's meeting next week, the Federal Reserve having its final meeting of the year. Of course, the fed continuing to pump stimulus money into the economy. So you know what, everybody is looking at now, everybody is looking ahead. A lot of people looking ahead to the December report, which is expected to be less hazy and may give a little more certainty to what is going on here in the jobs market -- Don.</s>LEMON: Boy, wouldn't that be a great holiday-Christmas present, Christmas-Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, everything present. Thank you, Alison Kosik. Want to check your other top stories now. House Speaker John Boehner expected to meet with reporters in about an hour. The event comes with just 25 days until that fiscal cliff deadline. Republican sources telling CNN that staffers on both sides of the aisle resumed talks Thursday. That first time that's happened all week. And comes -- and comes one day after President Obama and Speaker Boehner talk by telephone. In Japan, a tsunami warning has been lifted and only minor injuries have been reported after a 7.3 magnitude quake struck at sea nearly 300 miles from Tokyo. A small tsunami was triggered while a building shook in the capital city. Today's quake happened almost in the same area along the Japan's north eastern coast devastated by an earthquake nearly two years ago. Attorneys for George Zimmerman are suing NBC Universal for its characterization of him in reporting on the Trayvon Martin shooting death. The lawsuit claims NBC edited 911 recordings to make it appear that Zimmerman was racist. NBC says it disputes the accusations and plans to defend itself in court. On every flight, you have to power down your gadgets before takeoff and landing, but -- could that be changing? You might be surprised who is leading the charge.