Employers in November cut the lowest number of jobs since the recession began in December 2007.
In all, 11,000 jobs went over the month. That was far fewer than the 130,000 expected by most analysts.
President Barack Obama said the figures were "good news", but warned that there were "more bumps in the road to economic recovery".
"There is a lot more to do before we can celebrate... good trends don't pay the rent," he said.
For an economy the size of the US, the change was so small that the Labor Department described employment as "essentially unchanged".
In further good news for the US economy, factory orders rose by 0.6% in October, Commerce Department figures showed. Analysts had expected orders to remain unchanged.
The good data pushed the dollar higher against major currencies.
'Much-needed progress'
Payrolls have fallen every month for almost two years, but this year, the pace of decline has slowed sharply.
Revised figures for October also showed an improving trend. Originally, official estimates said 190,000 jobs were lost, that was revised down to 111,000.
The White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said the sharp slowdown in job losses showed "much-needed progress", but added that the Obama administration was still looking at providing help to the labour market.
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