Scrooge. The Grinch. Congress.

The job market is not getting better or, worse, is slowing down. In recent months, it had appeared that the economy was beginning to produce jobs at a pace of more than 170,000 a month. But in November, only 146,000 jobs were created, and tallies for September and October were revised downward, for an average monthly gain in those months of only 139,000 jobs.

The labor force contracted in November, after expanding in September and October. While the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent last month, down from 8.7 in November 2011, about half of that improvement is the result of people leaving the work force. Of course, the situation was even worse in 2009 and 2010, when nearly all of the improvement in the jobless rate was from a shrinking labor force. Over all, the job market is still very weak, with an estimated 3.9 million people having either dropped out of or never entered the work force after leaving school, on top of 12 million people who are officially unemployed and 8.2 million who are stuck in part-time jobs.

Rather than address unemployment with job-creation measures, Congress is poised to end what little aid is offered. Federal unemployment benefits, which average $290 a week and typically kick in after 26 weeks of state-based benefits, will expire at the end of 2012. If Congress does not extend them, two million workers will be cut off between Christmas and New Year’s, and nearly one million more will have no federal program to turn to when their state benefits run out in the first quarter of 2013.

In total, over five million people who would otherwise qualify for federal benefits in 2013 will find that such benefits no longer exist. That would be unconscionable at a time when 40 percent of all jobless workers have been unemployed for more than six months, many of them older workers. It also would be foolish, because the abrupt withdrawal of benefits would depress consumer demand, leading to the loss of an estimated 400,000 jobs.

Federal jobless benefits could be extended as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations or as a stand-alone measure. Unfortunately, Republicans have consistently balked at extending the program and have grown accustomed to holding an extension hostage to their demands for tax cuts or other measures. Is it too much to ask that they not leave town — especially for Christmas — without first providing for unemployed Americans?