WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The American economy created more jobs than expected in November, shows the monthly report from the Labor Department published on Friday, which demonstrates a certain robustness in the labor market despite the fall in the unemployment rate.
This report lists 199,000 non-agricultural jobs created last month in the United States while economists polled by Reuters forecast an average of 180,000.
October data has not been revised and confirms 150,000 jobs created.
The new jobs report suggests that financial markets’ expectations that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) could cut rates as early as the first quarter of 2024 appear premature.
The US central bank is expected to keep rates unchanged next Wednesday at its monetary policy meeting. It has raised its key rates by a total of 525 basis points since March 2022. They are currently in a range of 5.25% to 5.50%.
The unemployment rate fell to 3.7% in November from 3.9% the previous month.
The average hourly wage increased by 0.4% in November compared to +0.2% in October. On an annual basis, its progression reached 4.0% after 4.1% the previous month and a consensus of 4.0%.
On Wall Street, futures contracts suggest an opening down 0.1% for the Dow Jones, 0.04% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 and 0.35% for the Nasdaq.
(Report by Lucia Mutikani, by Claude Chendjou, edited by Bertrand Boucey and Kate Entringer)
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