WASHINGTON – America’s job market rebounded in November, adding 227,000 workers in a solid recovery from the previous month, when the effects of strikes and hurricanes had sharply diminished employers’ payrolls.
Last month’s hiring growth was up considerably from a meager gain of 36,000 jobs in October. The government also revised up its estimate of job growth in September and October by a combined 56,000.
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Friday’s report from the Labor Department report showed that the unemployment rate ticked up from 4.1% in October to a still-low 4.2%. Hourly wages rose 0.4% from October to November and 4% from a year earlier — both solid figures and slightly higher than forecasters had expected.
The November employment report provided the latest evidence that the U.S. job market remains durable even though it has lost significant momentum from the 2021-2023 hiring boom, when the economy was rebounding from the 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.
The Fed jacked up interest rates 11 times in 2022 and 2023. Defying predictions, the economy kept growing despite much higher borrowing rates for consumers and businesses. But since early this year, the job market has been slowing.
Thomas Simons, U.S. economist at Jefferies, wrote in a commentary that the recovery from October’s strikes and hurricanes likely boosted last month's payrolls by 60,000, suggesting that the job market is strong enough to absorb most jobseekers but not enough to raise worries about inflation.
The healthy gain of 227,000 payroll jobs in November was derived from from a Labor Department survey of employers. A separate survey of households, which determines the unemployment rate, looked weaker: The ranks of the unemployed rose by 161,000. And the number of Americans who said they either had a job or were looking for one fell for a second straight month.
Economists also noted that the November job gains were narrow: Just three categories of employers — healthcare and social assistance; leisure and hospitality; and government — accounted for 70% of the added jobs. And the 22,000 jobs that factories gained in November were boosted by the end of strikes at Boeing and elsewhere that restored many workers to their employers' payrolls. Retailers, by contrast, shed 28,000 jobs.
“I don’t think we should be misled by the solid number of 227,000,’’ said Julia Pollak, chief economist at the employment firm ZipRecruiter.
Pollak noted that averaging the October and November job gains amounts to a modest 132,000 per month.
“This report offers very little evidence of a labor market rebound,’’ she said.
Still, Americans as a whole have been enjoying unusual job security. This week, the government reported that layoffs fell to just 1.6 million in October, below the lowest levels in the two decades that preceded the pandemic. At the same time, the number of job openings rebounded from a 3 1/2 year low, a sign that businesses are still seeking workers even though hiring has cooled.
The overall economy has remained resilient. The much higher borrowing costs for consumers and businesses that resulted from the Fed’s rate hikes had been expected to tip the economy into a recession. Instead, the economy kept growing as households continued to spend and employers continued to hire.
The economy grew at a 2.8% annual pace from July through September on healthy spending by consumers. Annual economic growth has topped a decent 2% in eight of the past nine quarters. And inflation has dropped from a 9.1% peak in June 2022 to 2.6% last month. Even so, Americans were deeply frustrated by still-high prices under the Biden-Harris administration, and partly for that reason chose last month to return Donald Trump to the White House.
While comparatively few Americans are losing jobs, those who do are finding it harder to land a new one: The average unemployed American last month had been out of work for 23.7 weeks, the longest such stretch in 2 1/2 years.
The progress against inflation and the 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.
Pollak of ZipRecruiter said she sees some reason for optimism about the job market. Wage gains have been exceeding inflation for two years, for example, thereby strengthening Americans’ buying power. And lower borrowing rates are likely to encourage spending and hiring in the future.
“There are all kinds of mounting tailwinds that should propel this labor market forward," she said.
For now, though, some businesses are cautious. Chris Butler, CEO of the National Tree Company, which makes artificial holiday trees, wreaths and garlands, said he’s taking a watchful approach to hiring. The company is grappling with subdued spending, and, like its competitors, National Tree has discounted heavily as many shoppers have pulled back on discretionary purchases. Butler is also monitoring the prospect of heavy new tariffs that President-elect Donald Trump has said he will impose on imports from China and other countries.
Although National Tree Company sources a significant chunk of its business from China, it has been moving more production to Vietnam and Cambodia. It plans to be fully out of China in 2026 as it braces for Trump to take office.
For 2025, Butler said, "we’ll probably add a few roles. But it’s certainly not going to be a hiring bonanza.”
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D'Innocenzio reported from New York.