In November, the United States added 199,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate decreased to 3.7%

Payrolls expanded even faster than anticipated in November, and the unemployment rate decreased amid indications of a faltering economy, suggesting that job creation was not about to slow down.

The Labor Department announced on Friday that nonfarm payrolls increased by 199,000 for the month, slightly exceeding the 190,000 Dow Jones projection and ahead of the October rise of 150,00.

As opposed to the predicted 3.9% rate, the jobless rate dropped to 3.7%.

An important measure of inflation, average hourly earnings, rose by 4% over the previous year and by 0.4% for the month. While the yearly rate remained consistent, the monthly growth exceeded the 0.3% prediction by a small margin.

The sector with the largest growth, creating 77,000 jobs, was health care. Government (49,000), manufacturing (28,000), and tourism and hospitality (40,000) were among the other major winners.

38,000 retail jobs were lost before the holiday season, with department shops accounting for half of those losses. There was a five thousand decrease in transportation and warehousing as well.

The average length of unemployment decreased significantly, reaching a low point since February of 19.4 weeks.

Despite the fact that growth this year eluded most predictions of a recession, most economists predict a dramatic slowdown in the fourth quarter and modest improvements in 2024.