US non-farm payrolls beat expectations in November

According to the Labor Department, non-farm payrolls in November rose by 211,000 compared with October’s upwardly revised 298,000 gain and with analysts’ expectations for a 200,000 reading

The unemployment rate was unchanged at 5%, as analysts had forecast, while the labour-force participation rate rose by one tenth of a percentage point to 62.5%.

America's private sector added 211,000 staff in November, down from the rise of 298,000 seen in October, as service providers slowed their pace of hiring from 274,000 to 163,000. Construction saw a notable increase in employment, with the number of people on its payrolls jumping by 46,000.

Meanwhile, September’s figure was also revised upward to show a gain of 145,000 compared with an initial estimate of 137,000.

“The [non-farm payrolls] number will be seen as positive for the US markets, despite the fact that it means that we are a further step closer to the rate hike,” said James Hughes, chief market analyst at GFX.

According to government figures, average hourly wages increased 0.2% month-on-month in November, in line with consensus but slightly below the 0.4% gain registered in October.

On a year-on-year basis, hourly wages were again in line with expectations as they climbed 2.3%, marginally less than the 2.5% advance posted in the previous month, while the average amount of time people worked each week fell to 34.5 hours.

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