November payrolls increased more than anticipated

United States job growth increased at a brisk pace in November, allowing the economy to easily clear the last major data hurdle before the Federal Reserve meets on December 15 and 16 – a meeting widely expected to end with a historic interest-rate increase.

Companies and government agencies added 211,000 jobs last month while the pace of hiring in October and September was stronger than previously reported, the Labor Department said.

According to the U.S. Labor Department, U.S. payrolls rose in November beyond the Fed’s expectations and hourly earnings should hit 2.6 percent this month.

Blowing away expectations by 5.5%, employers added 211,000 jobs to their rolls in November – for what’s been the second consecutive month for strong gains.

Investors have been watching closely for this report, which came just one day after Janet Yellen, Fed chair, delivered an upbeat testimony on the economy to lawmakers. That lowered the year-on-year reading to 2.3 percent from 2.5 percent in October.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that with the labor market tightening, many economists expect monthly job gains to slow soon. Even some of the hawks, who would typically worry more about inflation risks than weak economic growth, are weighing a possibility that they may face a long spell of sub-par growth and low inflation.

Manufacturing has been crippled by a strong dollar, efforts by businesses to reduce bloated inventory and spending cuts by energy companies scaling back well drilling and exploration in response to sharply lower oil prices.

In addition, restaurants added 31,500 positions, retailers almost 31,000. The motion-picture industry also shed 13,000 jobs, though there’s been little change in employment over the past year. A jump in pay would indicate workers were seeing gains in an economy slowly improving for six years. CEO Tiger Tyagarajan says Genpact has added about 400 people to its 4,000 person US workforce this year, many of them in highly skilled areas such as software programming and management consulting. “While this report can help justify a rate hike in December, it can’t justify anything more than a very gradual path of rate hikes”, said Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist for Wells Fargo Funds Management. Over the year, the figure has risen by 2.3 percent, higher than its level a year ago. Instead it’s stepped up training and recruiting and is seeking to make it easier for employees with families to work part time. In a separate report Friday, the government said USA exports fell to the lowest level in three years.