Employers added solid 211000 jobs in November

Also encouraging is that job gains for September and October were revised up by a total 35,000. Official unemployment remained at 5 percent, while average wages for hourly private sector employees grew by a miserly 0.2 percent to $25.25 an hour. While testifying before the Joint Economic Committee on Capitol Hill on Thursday morning, Yellen said the economy needs to add fewer than 100,000 jobs a month to absorb the losses of those who fell out of the labor market in recent years.

Indeed, analysts expected that only an bad employment report would have rocked the Federal Reserve’s boat ahead of a meeting later this month that will ultimately determine whether 2015 is the year for an interest rate liftoff. It would be the first US monetary tightening in almost a decade.

A rate hike later this month would also establish more certainty among investors and end speculation on the timing of the first rate hike, which has contributed to increasingly volatile stock markets. The unemployment rate was in line with expectations.

But overall the report indicated a firming of the jobs market and a resilience in growth that would allow the Fed to begin raising its benchmark federal funds rate after keeping it locked near zero for seven years, economists said. Though the pivotal policy meeting is less than two weeks away, she said that will still hinge on whether incoming information supports the Fed’s outlook. Wages have increased 2.3 percent from one year ago.

“The November jobs report was the last hurdle for a December Fed rate hike”, said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight in a note.

The unemployment rate remained 5 percent for a second month as more Americans entered the workforce. “We won’t be at full employment until we see durable acceleration of wage growth, and only once we have achieved full employment will all workers be able to get the jobs they need and the hours they want, and be better positioned to negotiate for higher pay”, said Elise Gould, senior economist at left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. The government said 298,000 new jobs were created in October instead of 271,000. Mining and information lost jobs.

Ms. Yellen noted that one reason not to delay a rate hike too much longer is to avoid the need for faster increases that could be more disruptive to the economy than the gradual rate path policymakers prefer.

Data released by the Department of Labor demonstrate a resilient us economy driven by consumer spending and job creation, despite the dollar being very strong at the moment. That would spur higher inflation and give the Fed confidence to nudge up interest rates.

Labour market strength is a vital factor over whether to transfer interest rates for the USA central bank.

At the same time, U.S. exports and manufacturing have been crippled by a strong dollar, while low oil prices continue to hurt the country’s important energy sector. Retail jobs rose 30,700 and transportation and warehousing employment rebounded after two straight months of declines.