The U.S. labor market is starting to look a bit wobbly. November's jobs report, released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed the economy added just 64,000 positions—technically beating the already low expectations of 50,000, but that's hardly something to celebrate when you're talking about numbers this small.

More concerning? The unemployment rate climbed to 4.6%, up from 4.4% in September. That's the highest level since September 2021, and it's the kind of move that gets people's attention in Washington and on Wall Street.

There were some bright spots if you squint. Private sector hiring came in at 69,000 jobs, comfortably ahead of the 40,000 economists expected. But government employment fell by 5,000, continuing a pattern of public sector drag that's been weighing on headline numbers since shutdown-related chaos earlier in the fall.

Wage growth tells a similar story of deceleration. Average hourly earnings rose just 0.1% for the month, well short of the 0.3% forecast. Year-over-year wage growth slowed to 3.7% from 3.8% in October. That's the kind of cooling the Federal Reserve wanted to see, but combined with rising unemployment, it raises questions about whether the labor market is cooling or actually chilling.

October's numbers also got revised lower. Payrolls fell by 105,000 that month, reversing September's 108,000 gain. Government job losses of 157,000 drove much of the decline, even as private payrolls added 52,000.

And then there are the revisions. August payrolls were marked down by 22,000, from negative 4,000 to negative 26,000. September got a haircut too, down 11,000 from 119,000 to 108,000.

Here's where it gets interesting for markets. Before this report, traders were pricing just a 25% chance of another rate cut in January 2026. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has been signaling that policymakers are "well positioned" to wait for more clarity before making another move. But if the labor market keeps softening like this, that patience might get tested sooner than expected.