November NFP = 178K, Unemployment Rate Drops to 4.6%

The November jobs report shows that 178,000 net new jobs were created last month. The jobless rate fell to 4.6%. Spitting out the decimals, that’s the lowest jobless rate since August 2007.

Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers rose 2.5% in November compared with a year earlier. Wage gains had been accelerating this year as competition for workers intensified. October’s 2.8% was the strongest annual wage growth since June 2009.

The U.S. labor market has been one of the brightest spots in a long recovery marked by sluggish growth. But even with consistent job creation, a historically large share of Americans have opted out of the workforce and wage gains have remained below prerecession levels.

The unemployment rate is lower now than it was for every month from October 1973 to November 1997.

Posted by on December 2nd, 2016 at 9:29 am


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