Survey: 190K jobs added in U.S. in November

WASHINGTON — U.S. businesses added a robust 190,000 jobs in November, according to a private survey, a sign that hiring is strong enough to reduce an already-low unemployment rate.

Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that last month’s hiring followed a gain of 235,000 in October. Some of October’s job increase reflected a rebound from hurricane effects, which lowered hiring in September to just 96,000.

Manufacturers helped drive the

increase, adding 40,000 jobs, the largest gain this year, ADP said. Health care added 31,000 positions, and businesses in a category that includes restaurants and hotels hired 25,000.

“The job market is red hot,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, which compiles the report.

Over time, job gains at last month’s pace should drive down the unemployment rate, which is at a 17-year low of 4.1 percent.

The rate could fall below 4 percent by late 2018, Zandi said, which would put it near 50-year lows.

That could cause the job market to “overheat,” he noted, in that wages would rise more quickly, potentially pushing up inflation.

The Federal Reserve would likely respond with faster interest rate increases, which typically slow growth. Auto manufacturers are producing and hiring more, in part because auto sales have risen as residents of Texas and Florida replace hurricane-damaged cars.