WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. added 156,000 new jobs in the final month of 2016 and worker pay rose at the fastest pace since the Great Recession, reflecting a surge in employment over the past six years that’s left many companies complaining about a shortage of skilled labor.

The increase in hiring last month was spearheaded by health-care providers, financial firms, manufacturers, restaurants and shipping companies, the government said.

The unemployment rate, meanwhile, edged up to 4.7% from 4.6% as more people entered the labor force in search of work. That’s a good sign.

In afternoon trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.13% was flirting with 20,000. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 180,000 increase in new nonfarm jobs in December.

The U.S. has created more than 2 million jobs in each year since 2011, though hiring has slowed over the last two years. Many economists say there’s just not enough suitable talent available to around, especially with baby boomers retiring and the working-age population growing more slowly.

Also read:December jobs report keeps Fed on track for hikes this year

“Employers are simply having a harder time filling open positions as the economy nears full employment,” said Jim Baird, chief Investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors.

The steady gains in employment have finally started to push worker pay higher over the past year and a half. Average hourly wages jumped 0.4% in December to push the annual gain in 2016 to 2.9%, marking the fastest increase since a recovery that began in mid-2009.

Also read:Wage growth is welcome but still not enough

Rising wages have drawn the attention of the Federal Reserve, whose top policymakers might move to raise U.S. rates even faster if they think inflation is about to accelerate.

“This is a ‘vanilla pudding’ jobs report that keeps the Fed on a gradual rate hiking path,” asserted PNC chief economist Stuart Hoffman.

Yet despite strong job growth, the number of Americans who would like a full-time job but can’t find one remains elevated. The so-called real rate of unemployment tallied 9.2% in December, down a tick from the prior month.

Officially known as the U6 rate, it includes the unemployed, people who can only find part-time work and discouraged jobseekers who’ve recently given up looking. The U6 rate has been declining gradually, but it’s still well above the 8% mark right before the Great Recession got underway in December 2007.

Economists have debated for years whether many Americans, especially older ones, lack the skills to fill all the open jobs available. Some say they could be drawn back into the workforce with better policies while other dismiss the idea of a “skills gap.”

One of the big challenges for the incoming Trump administration will be to keep hiring at recent levels even with a tightening labor market.

Even if the new president is successful at attracting more businesses and jobs to the U.S. via a program of tax cuts and lower regulations, wages will either have to rise faster to draw more people back into the labor market or economic growth will have to speed up and persuade businesses that it pays to retrain workers who lack the necessary skills.