Employers added 227,000 jobs in November as the labor market rebounded from anemic growth in the prior month, when hurricanes and labor disputes dampened hiring.
The U.S. had been forecast to add 200,000 jobs last month, according to economists surveyed by financial data firm FactSet. The unemployment rate was expected to hold steady at 4.1%.
While hiring rebounded last month, the job market overall has been weakening in recent months under the strain of the Federal Reserve’s restrictive monetary policy, with the central bank boosting borrowing rates to their highest point in 23 years to combat inflation. It’s also taking longer for hundreds of thousands of out-of-work Americans to find new jobs, signaling cracks within a once-hot labor market as employers continue to cope with the impact of higher borrowing costs.
The end of labor disputes in October, including the Boeing machinists’ strike, could have boosted job growth by almost 40,000, noted Goldman Sachs analysts in a report released ahead of the jobs report.
—This is breaking news and will be updated.
