U.S. companies hired on more people than was expected for November. Despite the numbers, the economy continues to struggle in most areas and the future of hiring is looking grim by many accounts.
American companies added 217,000 jobs in November according to statistics released by payroll processing company ADP on Wednesday. This was a slight uptick from the 196,000 that were added in October and the figures came as a surprise to many analysts who were looking for October numbers this month.
The federal government and other economists and analysts state that the hiring outlook in the country has been good and that the numbers are encouraging, according to Bloomberg. They said that companies are retaining skilled and experienced workers while continuing to add jobs to the economy.
While the federal government declares the economy to be at full employment, there remains a cautious pessimism out there among the unemployed as well as among leading CEOs in the country. In a recent poll done by the Business Roundtable, they discovered that the 140 CEOs they spoke with are rather gloomy about the future of the economy and few have any plans to hire workers and expand. Despite the numbers, those economists who believe the recession continues to linger know that 300,000 jobs are what is needed every month for many months to pull the economy back up to sustainable growth levels.
Analysts like Moody’s and ADP are glowing over the numbers and believe the economy is just about at full employment. For the federal government and others, full employment means that everyone who wants a job, has a job. Bloomberg had originally estimated that only 190,000 jobs would be added in November.
The news adds further consternation to America’s central bank, The Federal Reserve. They will meet later this month to decide on whether to hike their overnight interest rate. If they do, the economy may slow down again and take even more time to recover. Their interest rate hike will affect everything from prices to mortgages.
Manufacturers added an additional 6,000 jobs in November and the construction industry hired on an additional 16,000 workers. ADP reported that small business, those with less than 50 employees, added 81,000 jobs in November while those companies with less than 500 employees hired on 62,000 new workers.
