The number of workers who were marginally attached to the labor force – meaning that they had looked for work at some point during the previous 12 months, and wanted jobs and were available for work – was 1.7 million for November, down by 392,000 from past year.
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The Fed got exactly what it needed to push ahead with a rate hike in December: More jobs. “It will have to be a disaster for the Fed to delay until 2016”, said Ryan Sweet, senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in Westchester, Pennsylvania.
WASHINGTON-The U.S. economy posted another month of sturdy job growth in November, paving the way for the Federal Reserve to raise short-term interest rates for the first time in a decade. Iyer notes that Fed Chair Janet Yellen recently said that even 100,000 jobs added per month in 2016 would “cover new entrants to the workforce”. The Fed’s policy-setting committee will meet on December 15-16.
With the November report, the USA has added and average 237,000 new jobs each month in the past year, and the number of officially unemployed people has fallen by 1.1 million. Manufacturing contracted in November for the first time in three years.
Ms. Yellen noted that one reason not to delay a rate hike too much longer is to avoid the need for faster increases that could be more disruptive to the economy than the gradual rate path policymakers prefer.
The main thing that Fed officials have been pointing out has been the tightening in the labor market, so it’s obviously a very good thing.
Hourly earnings for all employees slightly increased, rising 4 cents to $25.25, following a 9-cent gain in October.
Investors cheered the jobs report with the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging by close to 2 percent during intra-day trade. Some signs have suggested that wages are beginning to pick up after barely moving in the more than 6 years since the Great Recession officially ended.
Labour market strength is a vital factor over whether to transfer interest rates for the U.S. central bank.
The data, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, also showed the jobless rate held at its seven-and-a-half year low of 5%. Some of the gains were in response to Thursday’s sharp losses. Economists surveyed by CNNMoney predicted there would be 192,000 jobs added. The company said it expected the slowdown in drilling activity to continue in 2016.
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Employment in November was spurred by the biggest increase in construction hiring since January 2014.
