WASHINGTON — America’s job market rebounded in November, adding 227,000 workers in a solid recovery from October, when the effects of strikes and hurricanes had sharply diminished employers’ payrolls.
Last month’s hiring growth was up considerably from a meager gain of 36,000 jobs in October. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%.
Friday’s report from the Labor Department provided the latest evidence that the U.S. job market remains durable even though it has lost significant momentum from the 2021-2023 hiring boom, when the economy was rebounding from the pandemic recession. The job market’s gradual slowdown is, in part, a result of the high interest rates the Federal Reserve engineered in its drive to tame inflation.
The Fed jacked up interest rates 11 times in 2022 and 2023. Defying predictions, the economy kept growing despite much higher borrowing rates for consumers and businesses. But since early this year, the job market has been …