America’s employers added a solid 223,000 jobs in December, evidence that the economy remains healthy even as the Federal Reserve is rapidly raising interest rates to try to slow economic growth and the pace of hiring.
With companies continuing to add jobs across the economy, the unemployment rate fell from 3.6% to 3.5%, matching a 53-year low, the Labor Department said Friday.
Average hourly wage growth was up 4.6% in December from 12 months earlier, compared with a 4.8% year-over-year increase in November and a recent peak of 5.6% in March. Last month’s job growth capped a second straight year of robust hiring during which the nation regained all 22 million jobs it lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet the rapid hiring and the hefty pay raises that accompanied it likely contributed to a spike in prices that catapulted inflation to its highest level in 40 years.
For now at least, the job market is showing surprising resilience in the face of higher interest rates across the economy. Employers added 4.5 million jobs in 2022, on top of 6.7 million in 2021. All that hiring was part of a powerful rebound from the pandemic recession of 2020., the highest level in 40 years, before slowing to 7.1% in November. Last year, in an aggressive drive to reduce inflation back toward its 2% goal, the Fed raised its benchmark rate seven times.
Fed officials have projected that they will raise their benchmark short-term rate to about 5.1% this year, the highest level in more than 15 years. If hiring and inflation remain strong, the Fed’s rate might have to move even higher. Yet outside of high tech, smaller companies, in particular, are still hiring. According to the payroll processor ADP, companies with more than 500 employees cut jobs in December, while businesses below that threshold added many more workers. And an analysis by investment bank Jefferies showed that small companies were posting a historically high proportion of job openings.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
First Mover Americas: Bankman-Fried Pleads Not GuiltyTraders who see $BTC’s price going up are paying those betting against the coin to keep their bullish positions open. That bodes well for the cryptocurrency.
Read more »
December jobs report: 223,000 payrolls added, unemployment rate at 3.5%Insider tells the global tech, finance, markets, media, healthcare, and strategy stories you want to know.
Read more »
US employers added solid 223,000 jobs in December in sign of still-robust labor marketUS employers added a solid 223,000 jobs in December in sign of a still-robust labor market despite Fed rate hikes.
Read more »
US employers added solid 223,000 jobs in December in sign of still-robust labor marketUS employers added a solid 223,000 jobs in December in sign of a still-robust labor market despite Fed rate hikes.
Read more »
Economy added 223,000 jobs in December, unemployment down to 3.5%The economy notched another strong employment report in December and added 223,000 jobs.
Read more »