The US economy added a fewer-than-expected 155,000 jobs in November, the Labor Department reported Friday, while the unemployment rate remained at 3.7%.
October’s jobs numbers were also revised down slightly, to put the monthly average over the past year at about 204,000 jobs, and the average over the last quarter at 170,000.
The report is a sign of a slowing but still strong labor market.
Paychecks grew by 3.1% over the last year, a relatively robust number that is in line with expectations as employers have had to fight to attract workers in recent months.
The percentage of people participating in the labor force remained the same and the median number of weeks people remained unemployed dropped from 9.4 to 8.9 weeks in November, suggesting that people are getting jobs more quickly after losing them.
The strongest job growth came in health care, transportation and warehousing, and manufacturing, which added another 27,000 jobs.
