The widely watched U.S. labor market got good news Friday as unemployment rate improved significantly in November, but the challenge for sustainable job growth remains.

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) speaks during a news conference on jobs on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, Dec. 2, 2011. U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 8.6 percent in November, the lowest since March 2009, the Labor Department said Friday. (Xinhua/Fang zhe)

The employment rate last month was the lowest since March 2009, during the depths of the recession, said the department.

Unemployment peaked at 10.1 percent in October 2009, four months after the Great Recession ended. It dipped to 8.9 percent last February and 8.8 percent last March but otherwise was at or above 9 percent.

In November, total unemployed Americans, at 13.3 million, was down by 594,000.

The private sector added 140,000 jobs last month, as employment rose in a number of service-providing industries. Government employment continued to trend down.

Employment rose in various sectors, including retail trade, clothing, leisure and hospitality, food services and drinking places. Professionals, business services and health care also reported job gains in November.

Employment in manufacturing changed little and has remained modestly growing for months.

The Labor Department also revised unemployment data in the previous two months which showed 72,000 more jobs added.

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for September was revised from 158,000 to 210,000, and the change for October was revised from 80,000 to 100,000.

The White House said that Friday's employment report "provides further evidence that the economy is continuing to heal from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression."

Though the Friday report seems like "a silver of relief" for the American people, the labor market remains fragile.

The improvement partly reflected by the 315,000 people who have given up looking for work, noted the Heritage Foundation, a think- tank in Washington.

The question is whether this improvement is real and enduring or a fluke, said the foundation.

The unemployment rate remains unacceptable despite the improvement achieved in November, said U.S. House Speaker John Boehner on Friday.

"Any job creation is welcome news, but the jobless rate in our country is still unacceptably high," Boehner said at a press conference after the unemployment data released by the Labor Department in the morning. "Today marks the 34th consecutive month of unemployment above eight percent."

The Republican Speaker criticized that the Obama administration 's promise, which was to keep unemployment rate under eight percent, has gone unfulfilled.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said last month that the central bank is looking for growth and the job market to improve gradually over the next two years, but only at a "sluggish pace".

The White House also acknowledged that "the pace of improvements is still not fast enough given the large job losses from the recession that began in December 2007."

"We need faster growth to put more Americans back to work," said Alan Krueger, chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers.

He stressed that the monthly employment and unemployment numbers are volatile and employment estimates are subject to substantial revision. Therefore, "it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report."

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet