Economy adds 228,000 jobs in November, exceeding expectations


The Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. economy added 228,000 jobs in November, exceeding an average forecast by Wall Street economists of a 200,000-job gain. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1 percent. Average wages rose 0.2 percent, or 5 cents, to $26.55 an hour. The numbers provided fresh evidence that hiring and the economy in general continue to grow stronger. U.S. stock futures added to early gains after the monthly employment report was released. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 0.3 percent, while tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 futures rose by 0.6 percent, and S&P 500 futures were up 0.3 percent.
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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
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