Jobs market remains strong even as Fed imposes biggest series of rate rises in decades in effort to tame inflation

The Guardian reports that the U.S. added 263,000 jobs in November, according to the labor department announcement on December 2, indicating another strong month of jobs growth. The unemployment rate remained at 3.7%, close to a 50-year low.

Employers hired 284,000 new positions in October and 269,000 in September and the latest figures show hiring has remained resilient despite rising interest rates and the announcement of a series of layoffs at technology and real estate companies.

The jobs market has remained strong even as the Federal Reserve has imposed the biggest series of rate rises in decades in its fight to tame inflation. In early December, the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, indicated that the continuing strength of the jobs market – and rising wages – were likely to trigger more rate rises in the coming months.

The U.S. had been expected to add 200,000 jobs in November. The latest jobs numbers — the last before the Fed meets to decide its next move later this month — will strengthen the central bank’s resolve to keep raising rates.

Economists expect rate hikes will eventually dampen hiring, potentially leading to a recession and job losses next year. But so far, the jobs market has shaken off the Fed’s interventions.