(TNND) — The labor market rebounded in November as American employers added 227,000 jobs to their payrolls, beating expectations.

Bankrate Senior Economic Analyst Mark Hamrick called it a “that’s more like it” jobs report after two hurricanes and a strike at Boeing sunk October’s job growth.

The national employment increase of 227,000 reported Friday by the Labor Department beat the forecast of 214,000 additional jobs, according to labor economist Aaron Sojourner.

Even the soft October figure, initially reported as an increase of just 12,000 jobs, was revised upward to 36,000 jobs. September was also revised upward, so the Labor Department said the country added 56,000 more jobs over those two months than previously thought.

Sojourner said the labor market remains strong but is trending weaker.

Still, he thinks that more Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, which are expected, could boost hiring as businesses have an easier time financing their plans.

The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate 11 times between 2022 and 2023 as a lever to tame inflation.

That mission has essentially been accomplished.

The Fed’s target rate for annual inflation is 2%.

The latest consumer price index, a popular measure of inflation, came in at 2.6%.

But inflation has cooled enough to allow the Fed to start moving rates in the other direction, with cuts already in September and November.

Another rate cut could come in under two weeks when the Fed meets again.

Wages are also now outpacing inflation.

Friday’s report from the Labor Department showed average hourly earnings in the private sector are up 4% from a year ago, now averaging $35.61.

The economy added 2.27 million jobs over the previous 12 months.

That trails the previous three 12-month periods amid a post-pandemic labor market boom.

But the annual increase of 2.27 million jobs exceeds any of the comparable one-year periods heading into the pandemic, Sojourner noted on social media.

Bankrate’s Hamrick said via email that “… the U.S. economy has demonstrated remarkable resilience over the past couple of years resisting fears of an imminent recession.”

Hamrick said the chances of another Fed rate cut this month is very high.

The economy seems to be on pretty solid footing heading into the new year.

Goldman Sachs recently said that it expects 2.5% economic growth in 2025.

The unemployment rate ticked up last month to 4.2% after two straight months of 4.1%. Sojourner said that change isn’t a big deal.

Until May, the unemployment rate was riding a sub-4% streak of two straight years.

The Labor Department said there are now 7.1 million unemployed people, up from 6.3 million a year ago.

And there are more long-term unemployed Americans. The Labor Department considers those out of work for 27 weeks or longer as long-term unemployed.

Those folks now make up over 23% of all unemployed people, up from under 20% a year ago.

Employment last month trended up in health care, leisure and hospitality, government, and social assistance, according to the Labor Department.

Retail lost 28,000 jobs in November, despite the holiday shopping season.

The layoff rate remains low, showing overall job security remains high. A report released earlier this week showed the layoff rate at just 1%.

Sojourner did express concern over the relatively low hiring rate.

It’s been harder for folks out of work to land a job, with the hiring rate generally the lowest that it has been in over a decade.

Sojourner called the hiring rate “particularly worrisome” in his Friday social media breakdown of the new jobs report.

“It’s terrible to be unemployed and to have to struggle to find a job,” Sojourner previously told The National News Desk. “That is a terribly demoralizing and scary and frustrating experience.”