US added 199,000 jobs in December, government says, far less than expected

The US financial system added solely 199,000 jobs in December however the unemployment fee fell to three.9 p.c, the federal government reported Friday, a blended ending to a yr spent recovering from the mass layoffs attributable to Covid-19.

Analysts had forecast a way more strong acquire in payrolls, however the end result fell far brief, as an alternative displaying different key metrics like labor market participation and racial employment disparities making little enchancment final month.

Nevertheless, the variety of unemployed individuals on the planet’s largest financial system dropped by 483,000 within the month and by 4.5 million over the course of 2021, closing in on the place it was earlier than the Covid-19 pandemic brought about mass layoffs, in line with the Labor Division report.

The autumn within the unemployment fee introduced it nearer to three.5 p.c, the place it was in February 2020 earlier than the pandemic disruptions hit.

Job positive aspects for November and October have been revised up, collectively including 141,000 greater than beforehand reported, and the information confirmed the financial system gained a mean of 537,000 positions a month in 2021.

However as enterprise proceed to battle to fill open positions, the labor pressure participation fee, a carefully watched metric of individuals both working or on the lookout for jobs, was unchanged final month at 61.9 p.c, after spending most of final yr idling.

And disparities amongst racial teams remained, with the jobless fee for Black People rising 0.6 factors to 7.1 p.c, whereas the speed for different teams fell.

Final yr was marked by a pointy value will increase that bedeviled policymakers on the Federal Reserve and in President Joe Biden’s administration, and the Labor Division report mentioned common hourly earnings rose 4.7 p.c over 2021, near the speed of inflation.