U.S. unemployment rate falls to lowest level since August 2007

Advertisment The U.S. economy continued to roll in the weeks following the presidential election.

The U.S. economy added 178,000 nonfarm jobs in November from the prior month, according to a Labor Department report published Friday.

The low unemployment rate will likely influence the Fed to raise interest rates in order to avoid a sharp rise in inflation. “We’ve seen a rally in equity markets, a stronger dollar and upward revisions to GDP as of late”.

Average hourly earnings year-on-year: +2.8%.

The overall unemployment rate, however, dipped to 4.6 percent. The total number of registered unemployed Americans dropped to 7.4 million people.

“The headline numbers here are okay but the underlying numbers are less rosy”, Steve Chiavarone, portfolio manager at Federated Investors, told CNN Money.

Last month’s biggest job gains were in professional and business (63,000), health care (28,000), and construction (19,000).

Trump’s plan to increase infrastructure spending and slash taxes could encourage companies to boost hiring and spur an even faster pace of economic growth over the coming years. He reached a deal Tuesday with Carrier to keep about 1,000 jobs in IN that were slated to go to Mexico. The province has seen job numbers climb 1.5 per cent over the a year ago. That could prove hard.

“With the U.S. presidential election suspense now behind us, it is Yellen’s rhetoric which will be of most interest to investors as they look ahead at what to expect in the new Trump era next year”.

Manufacturers weren’t happy about job losses there, underscoring that President Barack Obama’s goals haven’t been met. While the Federal Reserve is nearly certain to raise borrowing costs this month, sustained weakness in wages or participation would weigh on the economic outlook.

Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected 180,000 new jobs and a jobless rate of 4.9% in November.

A rate hike is considered a sign that the economy is getting healthier.

“The industry mix of employment is at best neutral for Canadian wage growth … we are still far from seeing price pressures in Canada that would push the Bank of Canada to want to tighten”, said William Adams, senior worldwide economist at PNC Financial Services Group.