US Beat Estimates Add 228,000 but Wage Growth Disappoints

The US job market appears to have bounced back from the devastating storms that struck Florida and Texas in the autumn, adding 228,000 jobs in November as the unemployment rate remained at a 17 year low of 4.1%.

Hurricanes Harvey and Irma set off huge swings in job-creation numbers, released each month by the labor department, causing a sharp slowdown in September followed by a strong rebound in October.

The news is likely to ensure that the Federal Reserve will vote to raise interest rates when it meets next week. If the Fed acts as expected, it will be the third rate rise this year as the central bank moves away from its policy of keeping rates close to zero that it imposed after the recession.

Paul Ashworth, chief US economist for Capital Economics, said the latest jobs numbers “all but guarantees” another rate hike by the Fed next week.

Economists had been expecting the US to add 200,000 new jobs in November. On Wednesday ADP, the largest private payrolls company, said private companies had added 190,000 jobs in November with a strong showing for manufacturers, who hired 40,000 new workers.

“The labor market continues to grow at a solid pace,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice-president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “Notably, manufacturing added the most jobs the industry has seen all year. As the labor market continues to tighten and wages increase it will become increasingly difficult for employers to attract and retain skilled talent.”

While the US continues to add jobs at a steady pace, issues remain. The unemployment rate for whites (3.6%) is half that of African Americans (7.3 %). Unemployment for US teenagers stands at 15.9%.

via The Guardian ^[1]

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Alfonso Esparza ^[6]

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Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.

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