But October’s job gains were strong and Friday’s news keeps the economy on the right track.
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The U.S. economy added 211,000 jobs in November, a solid boost that likely means the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates later this month.
Average hourly pay for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls “rose by 4 cents to $25.25, following a 9-cent gain in October”, the agency says, adding that average hourly earnings have risen by 2.3 percent over 2015.
“The bottom end of the range of forecasts in Reuters polls on non-farm payroll figures for the coming year has been consistently trimmed lower by analysts over the past few months – just 100,000 jobs per month on average in some quarters of next year”, writes Siddharth Iyer at Reuters’ blog Macroscope.
It “will be a testament…to how far our economy has come in recovering from the effects of the financial crisis and the Great Recession”, Yellen said. The Fed’s committee meets in December 15-16, and it could raise its key interest rate for the first time in almost a decade. Anecdotal evidence, as well as data on labor-related costs, suggest that tightening job market conditions are starting to put upward pressure on wages.
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 a year ago.
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Wall Street had been expecting 200,000 new jobs and the rate to be unchanged. The data “would appear to seal an interest rate hike at the Fed’s upcoming FOMC meeting”. Manufacturing contracted in November for the first time in three years. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was little changed at 2.31 percent, and stock index futures were up about 0.5 percent in pre-market trading, roughly the same as before the report was released. Oilfield services provider Schlumberger this week announced another round of job cuts in addition to 20,000 layoffs already reported this year. The company said it expected the slowdown in drilling activity to continue in 2016. However, there was a slight increase in broader measures of underemployment. Retail jobs rose 30,700 and transportation and warehousing employment rebounded after two straight months of declines.
