November Jobs Report

The U.S. economy created 155,000 net new jobs last month. The unemployment rate stayed at 3.7%. Looking at the decimals, the unemployment rate was 3.671%. That’s the lowest since December 1969.

Average hourly earnings, a closely watched sign of whether inflation pressures are building, again rose at a 3.1 percent pace from a year ago. The monthly earnings gain of 0.2 percent fell short of estimates for a 0.3 percent increase. The average work week edged lower by 0.1 hours to 34.4 hours.

Stock futures turned positive following the weak report as traders bet it may mean the Federal Reserve is less aggressive next year on rate hikes.

A separate gauge that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons, sometimes called the real unemployment rate, rose from 7.4 percent to 7.6 percent.

The unemployment rate for African-Americans fell 0.3 percent to 5.9 percent, tied for its lowest on record.

Posted by on December 7th, 2018 at 9:38 am


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