November Jobs Report – Nonfarm Payrolls Rise by 263,000, Beating Forecasts

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Despite high inflation, the job market remained strong in November. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 263,000, beating consensus projections by 200,000 jobs.

Job growth was broad-based, with notable gains in health care, leisure and hospitality, and government. The information sector grew modestly. In addition, manufacturing added 14,000 jobs.

Average hourly earnings rose by 0.6%, double the 0.4 percent forecast by economists. The unemployment rate remained steady at 3.7%.

The Labor Department released its November jobs report Friday. It showed that the labor force participation rate fell by 0.1 percentage point, to 62.1%. This is still well below the pre-pandemic level of 63.4%.

In November, the unemployment rate was lower than the average for each month before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. But the number of unfilled jobs remained 1.7 per unemployed worker.

The number of open jobs decreased slightly, but is still higher than the 4.5 million average of the pre-pandemic period. Labor force participation was still below the pre-pandemic level, and a weak labor market could trigger the Fed to slow down interest rate hikes.

The Fed is expected to raise its benchmark borrowing rate a half-point this month. It has raised rates four times in the past year. It is also expected to raise rates a few more times in 2023.

The Federal Reserve is concerned about wage inflation. The average wage in November was 5.1% higher than it was a year ago.