The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that total nonfarm employment increased by a robust 292,000 jobs in December, although there was a loss of 4,900 jobs in accounting and bookkeeping services.
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The increase comes as US employers overall added 292,000 jobs in December, closing out the second-best year for job creation since 1999.
“The broad economy continues to recover steadily”, commented James Glassman, head economist with JPMorgan Chase commercial banking in NY in a note published on December 29. The World Bank cut its economic forecast for global growth in 2016, and George Soros, the financier, says the markets remind him of the crash of 2008.
Better yet, the payrolls for both October and November were revised to show that there were more than 50,000 more jobs created than previously reported. “Elsewhere in the report the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.0%, and the wider U6 measure was also unchanged at 9.9%”.
There was a 1-cent decrease in average hourly earnings last month, bringing the figure to $25.24.
The one downside is that wages fell slightly during the month. That meant that for 2015, the labor market added an average of about 221,000 jobs a month, which was down from 260,000 the previous year.
Goods producing industries added 45,000 jobs a whole, as gains from construction and nondurable goods offset contraction in the durable goods, mining and logging industries.
Manufacturing added 8,000 jobs last month.
YDSTIE: The labor force grew by nearly 470,000 workers in December after a big gain in November. Large businesses gained 97,000 jobs, including 39,000 in businesses with 500-999 employees and 58,000 in businesses with 1,000 employees or more.
The groundwork for that stability stems in part from the record-low interest rates engineered by the Federal Reserve, as well as policies such as the “cash for clunkers” program, the payroll-tax holiday and the business investment tax credit that helped energize the economy years ago. Other industries changed little last month, including manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, government, and financial activities. We would expect job growth to slow as the economy approaches full employment; however, it is obvious from the data that the economy is not there yet.
A strong, steady 2015 for the United States labor market ended with a bang in December.
Unemployment remained steady at 5 percent, where it has been for the past three months (at its lowest rate in more than seven years), and average hourly earnings increased by 2.5 percent.
But job growth was accelerating as 2015 closed.
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The unemployment rate remains stuck at 5%, but the labor force is stable – as measured by labor force participation, or the number of people working or looking for work. A weak overseas economy and strong dollar that makes USA exports more expensive for foreign buyers has hammered factories already reeling from plunging oil prices that have curtailed energy projects. “With (Other OTC: WWTH – news) oil prices close to $30 a barrel now, this latest labor market improvement doesn’t necessarily guarantee a March rate hike”.
