Despite ongoing concerns, the US job market is moving in the right direction.

The United States economy is still in a less-than-stellar spot, with ongoing supply chain concerns and the continuing Russian invasion of Ukraine negatively affecting the market as a whole and driving up inflation. However, in spite of the downsides, it’s not all bad news: in November at least, the US job market managed to beat analyst expectations in growth, if only slightly.

Breaking News: Hiring in the U.S. continued to exceed expectations in November as employers added 263,000 jobs and wages jumped.https://t.co/1sd5VZkGYJ

— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 2, 2022

According to the latest reports from the Labor Department, the United States added 263,000 nonfarm jobs in November weighed against an unemployment rate of 3.7%. That’s 63,000 jobs more than analysts were anticipating, though the unemployment rate prediction was on target.

“To have 263,000 jobs added even after policy rates have been raised by some [375] basis points is no joke,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management. “The labor market is hot, hot, hot, heaping pressure on the Fed to continue raising policy rates.”

While the job market isn’t exactly booming, the fact it is still managing some form of growth shows a degree of resilience against mounting economic concerns, a minor reprieve that investors could use right now.

Breaking news: Employers added 263,000 jobs in November, signaling labor market resilience amid tech slowdownhttps://t.co/kJgHnhG2DJ

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 2, 2022

“The Fed is tightening monetary policy but somebody forgot to tell the labor market,” said Fitch Ratings chief economist Brian Coulton. “The good thing about these numbers is that it shows the US economy firmly got back to growth in the second half of the year. But job expansion continuing at this speed will do nothing to ease the labor supply-demand imbalance that is worrying the Fed.”