211000 new jobs in November, making Fed rate hike likely

Labor officials also said that after revising data for October and September, they learned that 35,000 new jobs were left unreported.

Non-farm payrolls increased a seasonally adjusted 211,000 in November, the US Labor Department said on Friday, beating analysts’ expectations of 200,000.

The gain of 211,000 in November shows the consistency of this year in jobs gains as the average for all of 2015 is 210,000.

Job gains were concentrated in construction, food services and drinking places, retail trade, professional and technical services, and health care.

After hitting a 38-year low in September and October, the labor-force participation rate – which measures the percentage of those who either had a job or searched for one in the past month – ticked up a tenth of a percentage point in November to 62.5 percent from 62.4 percent last month, according to the November jobs report.

The monthly jobs reports have become the subject of microscopic dissection as markets are looking for signs that the Fed could raise record-low interest rates for the first time since 2006. The clear message from the labor market to the Fed is: ‘Just do it!’ ” said Harm Bandholz, chief US economist at UniCredit Research in NY. Fed Chair Janet Yellen said this week the job market would soon return to normal as long as the economy keeps growing at its current pace.

It’s been another month for job loss in mining, according to a report released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). There still is little prospect, however, that the over-reliance on central banks as an elixir for the economy will give way to the broader policy response needed to ensure that growth is sufficiently high, sustainable and inclusive.

Unemployment rate now sits at 5 percent, a 7-1/2 year low.

In two weeks, the Federal Reserve is meeting to discuss raising interest rates above zero for the first time in seven years. The Nasdaq composite rose 104.74, or 2.1 percent, to 5,142.27. It’s still far below the roughly 3.5 percent pace typical of a strong economy.

The sizable gain in construction jobs last month, even as the Fed is preparing to raise rates, suggests that few expect higher borrowing costs to derail home building or sales.

For the Fed, conditions seem almost ideal for a period of small and only gradual rate increases in coming months.

Manufacturer shed 1,000 jobs in November, the third decline in four months, as the strong dollar, soft global economy and energy-sector woes take a toll.

The jobs figures have played an outsized role in paving the way for the expected increase in rates. Job growth has been solid, and wages have begun to rise, but not so much as to cause concern about future high inflation. A unique feature of the economy over the last 6 years is that there are more jobs, but income has dropped.