November Jobs Report: 155,000 Jobs Added, Unemployment Steady At 3.7 Percent

The U.S. economy added 155,000 jobs through the month of November and the unemployment rate held steady at 3.7 percent, according to Department of Labor (DOL) data released Friday.

Wages hit 3.1 percent growth over a year last month, the first time in nearly a decade that wages have broken the 3 percent benchmark. Wage growth held steady at 3.1 percent through November from a year before.

The 3 percent benchmark has not been hit in year-over-year wage growth since April 2009. The increase in wages is an effect of the historically tight labor market as employers offer better pay to attract workers, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report data fell for jobs added under experts’ predictions of 198,000 jobs added, according to WSJ. Jobs data from October was revised downward from 250,000 to 237,000.

The unemployment rate hit a near-five decade low in September when it fell to 3.7 percent. It fell 0.2 percent from the month before and hit the lowest rate since 1969.

The four-week average of new jobless claims — a proxy for the number of workers laid off each week — hit 228,000 Thursday. The economy is producing so many jobs that the unemployment rate remains at historically low levels, despite the jobless claims number. The number of people collecting unemployment benefits sank by 74,000 and remains at the lowest level since 1973, MarketWatch reports.

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