A hiring sign in Los Angeles.
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The economy added 216,000 jobs in December.That’s way more than the forecast of 170,000.The US unemployment rate was still 3.7% in December.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Friday the latest employment and unemployment data, highlighting how the workforce was doing before the new year kicked off.
There were 216,000 nonfarm payrolls added in December, above the forecasted growth of 170,000. The most recent gain was also above November’s increase.
November’s gain was revised from 199,000 to 173,000. Additionally, October’s growth was revised from 150,000 to 105,000.
Leisure and hospitality ended the year still below its pre-pandemic level. However, it did add some jobs, with an employment gain of 40,000.
Construction and information were two other industries that saw an employment gain from November to December. Construction saw a gain of 17,000, while the information sector saw a gain of 14,000. Government work also saw a pretty large one-month increase, with a gain of 52,000.
Transportation and warehousing saw employment drop by around 23,000.
“Couriers and messengers lost 32,000 jobs, while air transportation added 4,000 jobs,” Friday’s news release from BLS stated. “Since reaching a peak in October 2022, employment in transportation and warehousing has decreased by 100,000.”
The unemployment rate stayed the same from November to December at 3.7%. That rate was just below the 3.8% that was expected to be seen for December.
While the unemployment rate stayed the same, the labor force participation rate declined from 62.8% to 62.5%. The employment-population ratio also fell slightly — from 60.4% in November to 60.1% in December.
Average hourly earnings have generally been softening. However, the year-over-year increase in December was slightly higher than the year-over-year increase in November, at 4.1% for December and 4.0% in November. Earnings stood at $34.27 in December.
Average hourly earnings climbed 0.4% from November to December.
Additionally, the number of quits in November was around the pre-pandemic February 2020 level, per a separate report. There were 3.5 million quits, 8.8 million openings, and 1.5 million layoffs and discharges in November, based on data released Wednesday.
The recent quit data — where quits have broadly been cooling and recently stood around the pre-pandemic mark — could be indicating not as many people are job hopping. Instead, they are part of what could be considered the Big Stay.
As Glassdoor’s chief economist Aaron Terrazas explained, that doesn’t necessarily mean workers like their work.
“We should not assume that employees are more content in their jobs just because they are staying put,” Terrazas said. “In some sense, this is shaping up to be a key challenge for companies in 2024: More employees who aren’t necessarily thrilled to be where they are, but also aren’t leaving due to the absence of alternatives.”
Economists and others will be keeping an eye on whether the Fed will be cutting rates in 2024. The Federal Open Market Committee will meet at the end of January.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
