The pace of US jobs growth is expected to have slowed again in November in a further sign that demand for new workers is easing amid the Federal Reserve’s historic efforts to cool the economy.
Non-farm payrolls are set to have increased by 200,000 last month, according a consensus forecast compiled by Bloomberg, a step down from the 261,000 jump recorded in October and the 315,000 rise in September. Before the November release, the US economy had added 407,000 jobs each month on average this year, compared to 562,000 monthly in 2021.
The unemployment rate is set to remain steady at 3.7 per cent.
The new data, to be released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics at 8:30am ET on Friday, comes as the US central bank is trying to damp economic activity by rapidly raising borrowing costs in an attempt to tame inflation that is still running near multi-decade highs.
Consumer demand has started to ease, the housing sector has weakened and the technology sector has suffered a wave of job cuts. However, the economy more broadly has showed surprising resilience, despite the Fed’s benchmark policy rate now closing in on 4 per cent.
In December, the central bank is set to end its string of 0.75 percentage point rate increases and move to a half-point rise even as it ultimately targets a higher level of interest rates next year than expected. Many officials have signalled the benchmark policy rate could eventually reach 5 per cent.
Read more about the upcoming US jobs report here.
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