patrick.net

American wages unexpectedly climbed in August by the most since the recession ended in 2009 and hiring rose by more than forecast, keeping the Federal Reserve on track to lift interest rates this month and making another hike in December more likely.

Average hourly earnings for private workers increased 2.9 percent from a year earlier, a Labor Department report showed Friday, exceeding all estimates in a Bloomberg survey and the median projection for 2.7 percent. Nonfarm payrolls rose 201,000 from the prior month, topping the median forecast for 190,000 jobs, after a downwardly revised 147,000 advance. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.9 percent, still near the lowest since the 1960s.

“The labor market looks great,” said Ward McCarthy, chief financial economist at Jefferies LLC in New York. Weak wage growth “had been the one fly in the ointment in the last few years. Perkier wages are the final confirmation the labor market is back to normal.”

The latest data “might move the needle for the doubters in the market” about a December Fed hike, he said. “The biggest concern is the effect of tariffs,” though McCarthy said he thinks at this point it may only affect some sectors of the economy.