US employment growth picked up speed in November and the jobless rate dropped to a two-and-a-half-year year low of 8.6%.
Nonfarm payrolls increased 120,000 last month, in line with economists' expectations for a gain of 122,000.
The relative strength of the report was also bolstered by revisions to the employment counts for September and October to show 72,000 more jobs created than previously reported.
While part of the decline in the unemployment rate from 9% in October was due to people leaving the labour force, the household survey from which the jobless rate is derived also showed solid gains in employment
The unemployment rate had been expected to hold at 9%.
