Despite the Federal Reserve's aggressive efforts to slow the labor market and tackle inflation, job growth was much better than expected in November.
The Labor Department reported Friday that non-farm payrolls increased 263,000 for the month, while the unemployment rate was 3.7%. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for an increase of 200,000 on the payrolls number and 3.7% for the jobless rate.
The monthly gain was slightly lower from October's upwardly revised 284,000.
The numbers are likely to do little to slow a Fed that has been raising interest rates steadily this year to bring down inflation that is close to its highest level in more than 40 years.
In another blow to the Fed's anti-inflation efforts, average hourly earnings jumped by 0.6% for the month, double the Dow Jones estimate. On a year-over-year basis, the wages were up 5.1%, well above the 4.6% expectation.
This is a developing story.