A whopping 321,000 jobs were added last month, far surpassing the Federal Reserve's (Fed) prediction of 230,000. Yes, it was the best month of hiring in nearly two years and brings the total jobs added in 2014 to 2.65 million. And, many of the positions added are full-time, white-collar jobs (minus part-time holiday retail figures), which bodes well.
But there's more to the story. The unemployment needle hasn't budged from 5.8%, and there are still 18.1 million Americans who are counted as under-employed, which means they're working part-time but want full-time jobs.
Forbes reports that the so-called "real unemployment rate" (U6, in government lingo), which takes under-employment into account, remains stubbornly well above 11%. What's more, wage growth is stagnant, up by only 0.4% in November. It's hard to know whether the trend will continue in 2015, but hirer beware: If positive economic trends cause the Fed to raise interest rates that much sooner, it could hinder the newly employed from borrowing money, which may keep consumer spending down early next year.