The U.S. added 146,000 jobs last month, Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate also fell to 7.7% from 7.9%, the lowest level since December 2008, but that was because more people dropped out of the labor force and stopped looking for work.
the pace of job creation in November closely matched hiring trends in October and September after downward revisions. The number of new jobs created in October was reduced to 138,000 from 171,000, while September’s increase was revised down to 132,000 from 148,000.
The biggest increase in hiring in November occurred in retail ( 53,000), professional services (43,000), leisure and hospitality hired 23,000 workers and the health-care industry increased employment by 20,000. Government employment was essentially unchanged.
In November, average hourly wages rose 4 cents to $23.63. Over the past year, hourly wages are up 1.7%