Hiring Surge Gives U.S. Expansion a Lift Into 2015

So much for secular stagnation. A November surprise that included a jump in wages as well as the biggest hiring surge in almost three years suggests the world’s largest economy is putting aside doubts about the strength of the expansion. The 321,000 advance in payrolls followed a 243,000 increase in October that was stronger than previously reported, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The jobless rate held at a six-year low of 5.8 percent and earnings rose by the most since June of last year. “It’s pretty impressive,” said Ethan Harris, co-head of global economics research at Bank of America Corp. in New York. The jump in payrolls “is the kind of number you get in a booming economy.” From factories to offices and retailers, employers took on more staff last month, giving American consumers the bump in pay needed to drive holiday spending. Treasury yields rose as traders bet the improvement in the labor market will help reassure Federal Reserve policy makers that the economy is strong enough to withstand an increase in borrowing costs next year. The breadth of industries hiring last month was the broadest since 1998, a sign the benefits of the expansion were rippling through the economy. Factory payrolls rose by the most in a year, professional and business services companies took on more employees than at any time since November 2010, financial firms boosted payrolls by the most since early 2012 and hiring at retailers picked up. Venus Bryan is among Americans seeing an improvement, even as it’s been slow to develop. After a three-month search, Bryan, 24, will start a seasonal job next week at J.C. Penney Co. in Roanoke, Virginia, where she’ll be creating displays and changing signs and price tags on merchandise. While she’d like to be able to use her sociology degree one day, Bryan said she needed to get work experience on her resume. Her new full-time job is “a starting point,” she said. “It may not be exactly what you want at that moment, but I think the job market is getting better,” Bryan said. “It just may not be improving fast enough for some people.” The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.31 percent at 4 p.m. in New York from 2.24 percent late yesterday. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the greenback against 10 trading partners, gained 0.9 percent, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.2 percent. By Victoria Stilwell