U.S. employers added 245,000 jobs in November. But that still leaves a gap of 9.8 million jobs since before the pandemic, a hole bigger than in the worst of the Great Recession. And progress is slowing.

The number of people on temporary layoffs is continuing to fall, to under 3 million. But the number of people who have lost their jobs permanently rose slightly in November.

The labor force fell by 400,000. The participation rate among prime working-age adults rebounded quickly at first but has been trending down ever since.

Interestingly, participation fell more for men than for women in November, although over the full length of the recovery it has fallen by much more among women.

The net result here is that while the official unemployment rate is falling, permanent joblessness (or @JedKolko's concept of "core" unemployment) is not.