US economy adds 227,000 jobs in November, unemployment rate rises to 4.2% as labor market rebounds

The US economy added more jobs than forecast in November while the unemployment rate ticked higher as the labor market rebounded from October data that was negatively impacted by severe weather and labor strikes.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Friday showed 227,000 new jobs were created in November, just above the 220,000 expected by economists.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate increased to 4.2% from the 4.1% seen in October.

Hurricanes and a strike by Boeing (BA) workers weighed heavily on the October report, which was revised to show there were 36,000 jobs created last month. Job growth for September was also revised higher on Friday, with revisions now indicating the US economy added 56,000 more jobs than initially reported over those two months.

Wage growth, an important measure for gauging inflation pressures, rose 0.4% in November, in line with October's increase and higher than the 0.3% rise economists had expected.

Compared to the prior year, wages rose 4% in November, more than than 3.9% that had been forecast.

Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate fell to 62.5% in November, down from 62.6% in October.

In its release, the BLS noted employment in the transportation equipment manufacturing industry rose by 32,000, "reflecting the return of workers who were on strike." Temporary help services employment rose modestly in November but also marked a turnaround from a loss of over 33,000 jobs in this industry the prior month.

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Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X @_joshschafer.

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