The U.S. Labor
Department announced on Friday that nonfarm payrolls jumped by 227,000 in November
after an upwardly revised 36,000 gain (from 12,000) in October.
According to
the report, employment improved in health care (+54,000), leisure and
hospitality (+53,000), government (+33,000), and social assistance (+19,000),
while retail trade lost jobs (-28,000).
The
unemployment rate, however, edged up
to 4.2 per cent from an unrevised 4.1 per cent.
Economists had anticipated
the nonfarm payrolls to rise by 200,000 and the jobless rate to advance to 4.2 per cent.
The labour
force participation rate slipped to
62.5 per cent in November from an unrevised 62.6 per cent in the previous month, while
hourly earnings for private-sector workers grew by 0.4 per cent m-o-m (or $0.13)
to $35.61, the same pace as in October. Economists had expected
the average hourly earnings to climb by 0.4 per cent m-o-m in November.
Over the year,
the average hourly earnings surged 4.0 per cent in November, the same pace as
in the previous month. Economists had forecast the annual wage growth
to ease to 3.9
per cent in November.
The
average workweek increased
0.1 hour to 34.3 hours last month, matching economists' prediction of 34.3 hours.