UPDATE - US adds 263,000 jobs in November, unemployment steady at 3.7%

UPDATES WITH PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN'S COMMENTS; OTHER CHANGES; REVISES DECK

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) – The US economy added 263,000 jobs in November, above the market estimate, while the unemployment rate stood steady at 3.7%, the Labor Department announced on Friday.

The market expectation for nonfarm payrolls was a 200,000 gain in November.

Job additions for October were revised up by 23,000, from 261,000 to 284,000, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The unemployment rate, on the other hand, remained unchanged at 3.7% in November, in line with market estimates.

The number of unemployed people in the US also remained steady – around 6 million in November.

Both the labor force participation rate at 62.1% and the employment-population ratio at 59.9% were little changed last month.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, in March and April 2020, more than 22 million people in the world’s largest economy lost their jobs.

President Joe Biden said the American economy continues to grow, and noted that his administration created 10.5 million jobs since he took office, more than any presidential administration in history, including 750,000 domestic manufacturing jobs.

"Over the last couple of months the wage increases are larger than the increase in inflation during that same period of time," he told a press conference at the White House where he signed a bill averting a nationwide rail strike.

"Americans are working. The economy is growing. Wages are rising faster than inflation. We've avoided a catastrophic real strike," he said.