Key Points:
- Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 216,000 in December and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7%.
- Consensus among economists was a gain of 170,000 jobs.
- Employment growth is below the average monthly gain of 225,000 over the prior 12 months.
- The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised down by 45,000, from +150,000 to +105,000, and the change for November was revised down by 26,000, from +199,000 to +173,000. With these revisions, employment in October and November combined is 71,000 lower than previously reported.
- Government added 52,000 jobs in December, leisure and hospitality increased by 40,000, health care added 38,000 jobs, social assistance rose by 21,000, and construction employment rose by 17,000.
- Employment in transportation and warehousing declined by 23,000 in December.
- In December, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by $0.15 to $34.27.
- The average workweek for all private employees edged down by 0.1 hours to 34.3 hours in December.
- The labor force participation rate fell 0.3% to 62.5% and is 0.9% below its February 2020 level.
- In December, the unemployed population was unchanged at 6.3 million but job openings fell to 8.8 million in November.