The unemployment rate in November dropped from 6.9% to 6.7%, but instead of portending a recovery, it may be a sign of a much grimmer future than expected. The reason? Government sector jobs are disappearing for the first time in this recession.

"One of the areas of concern for me was that that sectors that lost jobs between October and November was state government outside of education," said Russell Weaver, an economic geographer with Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations Buffalo Co-Lab.

Weaver told Capital Tonight that fewer hires in education were expected with schools going online.

"But we saw a net decrease of state jobs outside of education over the past month," he explained. "That’s a telling sign that lack of another stimulus, lack of federal aid to state and local governments is probably going to start taking its toll really soon."

Local governments are heavily reliant on sales tax revenue, especially after the holiday shopping season. If consumers aren’t spending, Weaver predicts that we are going to see local governments not making their budgets. 

"The jobs shed last month, that was the first time that’s really happened outside of education in this pandemic," Weaver said. "That could be a pretty telling sign that the budget crisis is becoming very real very quickly."