America’s job market rebounded in November, adding 227,000 workers in a solid recovery from October, when the effects of strikes and hurricanes had sharply diminished employers’ payrolls, the Associated Press reports.
Last month’s hiring growth was up considerably from October’s gain of 36,000 jobs. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%.
Today’s report from the Labor Department provided the latest evidence that the U.S. job market remains durable even though it has lost significant momentum from the 2021–23 hiring boom, when the economy was rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic recession. The job market’s gradual slowdown is, in part, a result of the high interest rates the Federal Reserve engineered in its drive to tame inflation.
Progress against inflation and a slowdown in hiring, which eases pressure on companies to raise wages and prices, led the Fed to cut its key rate in September and again last month. Another rate cut is expected to be announced when the Fed meets Dec. 17–18.
