ECONOMY
US Added 199,000 Jobs In November, And Unemployment Fell To 3.7%
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The U.S. economy added a robust 199,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate ticked down, defying recession expectations and bolstering signs of a soft landing on the way to the Federal Reserve’s target of 2% inflation.
The unemployment rate of 3.7% in November is down slightly from 3.9% in October and 3.8% in September, according to Friday’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. April’s 3.4% unemployment rate marked a 50-year low.
There were 6.3 million unemployed people in November, down from 6.5 million in October, the agency said.
November’s strongest jobs gains came in the healthcare sector, with 77,000 jobs added, followed by government, with 49,000 jobs added. In the leisure and hospitality sector added 40,000 jobs, while in manufacturing 28,000 jobs were added.
Meanwhile, employment in retail declined going into the holiday season, along with transportation and warehousing.
Average hourly earnings for all workers on private, nonfarm payrolls rose by 12 cents in November, or 0.4%, to $34.10, the agency said.
The Federal Reserve last month held interest rates steady for the second time in a row, after aggressive hikes since March of last year to combat inflation.
The central bank maintained the target range for the federal funds rate at 5.25% to 5.5%, despite recent indicators of strong economic growth and a resilient labor market even as inflation remains above its target of 2%.
The Fed is likely to see a resilient but moderated job market as a sign of progress toward reducing inflation. While job gains have hovered around 200,000 over the past three months, the economy was adding more than 300,000 jobs per month during the same period last year.
The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to meet again next week, and while a worse jobs report may have signaled a coming rate cut, the Fed is expected to hold rates steady for the third straight time.
After last month’s meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said there was still a long way to go.
“A few months of good data are only the beginning of what it will take to build confidence that inflation is moving down sustainably toward our goal. The process of getting inflation sustainably down to 2% has a long way to go,” he said.
TMX contributed to this article.
