WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. added 321,000 new jobs in November to mark the biggest gain in nearly three years, extending the strongest streak of hiring in several decades. Virtually every industry added employees, and many of the new jobs were in fields that pay well.

Hiring was also revised up by a combined 44,000 in the prior two months, offering more evidence that the U.S. economy could be gearing up for its best year of growth in 2015 since the end of the Great Recession.

The nation’s unemployment rate, meanwhile, held steady at a six-year low of 5.8%, the Labor Department reported Friday.

“November’s employment report was a knock out,” said Neil Dutta, head of economics at Renaissance Macro Research.

The bulk of the job gains were concentrated in white-collar professions, retail, health care and manufacturing. Professional services led the way again, creating 86,000 jobs. Retailers also added 50,000 workers to gear up for what’s expected to be the best holiday shopping season since the recession.

Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a much smaller 235,000 increase in nonfarm jobs. The stellar employment report helped push U.S. stocks SPX, -2.02% to another record high in Friday trading, while yields on U.S. Treasurys US:10_YEAR spiked higher.

A rapidly improving labor market could be the trigger that forces the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates sooner than Wall Street expects. Before the jobs report most analysts were predicting the Fed would hold off at least until mid-2015 to raise a key short-term rate for the first time since 2006.

Also see: ‘Wow - 321’ and other reactions to the jobs report

The economy has now added at least 200,000 jobs for 10 straight months, the longest such stretch in more than 30 years. Already the U.S. has generated 2.65 million new jobs in 2014, the biggest increase since a 3.2 million gain in 1999.

President Obama lauded the outsized gain in employment in November, noting that the U.S. has added more new jobs in the past four years than Japan and Europe combined. “The United States continues to outpace the rest of the world,” he said.

The acceleration in hiring and plunging unemployment rate, however, have yet to translate broadly into rapidly rising wages for workers, the telltale sign of a full-blown recovery. What might be holding back wage growth is a large pool of some 18.1 million people who want a full-time job but still can’t find one — an elevated level by historical standards even though it’s fallen sharply over the past few years.

In a good sign, though, the average hourly wage of American workers rose a strong 0.4% in November to $24.66 after two weak readings in a row. Still, wages are only up 2.1% in the past 12 months, a rate that’s barely changed since the recovery began in mid-2009.

A sustained increase in hourly earnings are necessary to propel the economy onto a higher plane of growth, analysts say.

Americans are taking home more pay, but mainly because they are working longer hours. The average length of the workweek stood at a postrecession high of 34.6 hours in November.

Yet the longer the economy keeps adding 200,000 jobs or so a month, economists say, the quicker upward pressure on wages should intensify. In October, the U.S. added 243,000 jobs, up from a preliminary estimate of 214,000. September’s gain was raised to 271,000 from 256,000.

So far in 2014 the economy has gained an average of 241,000 jobs a month.

Already some industries such as manufacturing complain about a shortage of skilled job applicants and some say they are offering better pay to keep or attract talented workers.

Also see: Fed’s contacts find some low-wage workers getting raises

As pay rises, consumer spending should also increase and boost the overall economy. Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of the nation’s economic activity.

Surveys of executives also show that most businesses think the economy will gather added momentum in 2015, and plans to hire more workers are the strongest they’ve been in years. Sinking gas prices could also fuel faster growth if they remain at current levels.

One caveat: Bigger companies in particular are paying close attention to the slowdown in growth in Asia and Europe, a bout of weakness that could infect the U.S. economy if it persists. Yet in October U.S. exports rose, so the slowdown overseas hasn’t really hurt the U.S. so far.