The US economy added more jobs than expected in November, even as the unemployment rate rose, signaling a recovery in the labor market after October data was hit by bad weather and a labor strike.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released on Friday showed 227,000 new jobs were created in November, exceeding economists' expectations of 220,000.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose to 4.2% from 4.1% in October. The November job gains were also higher than the revised 36,000 new jobs in October. Hurricanes and the Boeing (BA) labor strike had a significant impact on the October report. Revisions for September and October showed the US economy adding 56,000 more jobs than initially estimated for those two months.
Wage growth, a key measure of inflationary pressures, remained at 4% from the previous month, higher than economists' expectations of 3.9%. On a monthly basis, wages rose 0.4%, in line with October's gain and above expectations of 0.3%.
Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate fell to 62.5% in November, from 62.6% in October. Sector-wise, employment in transportation equipment manufacturing rose by 32,000 in November, "reflecting the return of workers who had previously been on strike," the BLS said.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.11% to 105.59.
