The number of new US jobs soared at the sharpest rate in seven months in October, the government reported today.
A surprisingly strong 337,000 jobs were added to payrolls last month - twice the 169,000-job growth that Wall Street economists had forecast.
Part of the reason for this trend was a surge in construction activity as hurricane-racked areas in the Southeast were rebuilt.
However, the unemployment rate edged up to 5.5 per cent from 5.4 per cent in September as more people joined the search for employment.
New hiring in October was more than twice as strong as the upwardly revised 139,000 jobs that were created in September.
The data pointing to revival in the labour market comes days before Federal Reserve policy-makers, meeting on Wednesday, are expected to nudge official short-term interest rates up for a fourth time this year, by a quarter percentage point, to lift the federal funds rate to 2 per cent.