Government reports gain of 211,000 jobs. Official unemployment rate remains at 5%

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated Friday that 211,000 seasonally adjusted new jobs were added to the economy in November. Of those, 197,000 were in private sector and 14,000 in the public-sector. November was thus the 68th straight month of new private job creation and 62nd straight month that new public jobs have been added. The official unemployment remained unchanged at 5.0 percent.

The BLS revised its earlier October tally of new jobs from 271,000 to 298,000 and in September from 137,000 to 145,000 Taken together, all those numbers seem certain to give the Fed the assurance it needs to raise interest rates this month, though the increase will no doubt be small, a 1/4 percent boost being the likely rise. Jim Puzzanghera writes:

Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet L. Yellen on Thursday downplayed the risk of the U.S. falling into recession next year and indicated central bank policymakers are ready to raise a key interest rate this month, in part to give them flexibility to lower it if the economy slows. [...]

“We are contemplating raising them. But we have said that we expect that process to be gradual,” she said. “And we want to make sure that, having achieved this progress in the labor market, we maintain it and don't put it in danger.”

However, Elise Gould at the Economic Policy Institute wrote Thursday that it’s still too early for the Fed to be raising interest rates given the weakness in wages:

The reality is that we need to see strong wage growth that is consistent and strong enough so that labor share of income returns to pre-recession levels and the labor market achieves a full recovery. Then, and only then, should we begin a conversation about raising rates

Wages for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 4 cent an hour  in November to $25.25 after rising 9 cents an hour in October. Wages for private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees remained unchanged at $21.19.