December’s jobs report, the last read on U.S. job growth in 2022, showed the labor market remained strong at the end of the year, even as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to the highest level in 15 years.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 223,000 in the last month of the year, according to the latest from the BLS published Friday. The unemployment rate in December fell to 3.5%, and on an unrounded basis, the unemployment rate came in at 3.47%, the lowest since 1969.
Economists had expected job gains to tally 202,000 and an unemployment rate of 3.7%.
In 2022, the U.S. economy added 4.5 million new jobs, an average monthly increase of 375,000.
Here are the balance of highlights from the release, compared to Wall Street estimates compiled by Bloomberg:
- Non-farm payrolls: plus 223,000 vs. plus 202,000 expected
- Unemployment rate: 3.5% vs. 3.7% expected
- Average hourly earnings, month-over-month: plus 0.3% vs. plus 0.4% expected
- Average hourly earnings, year-over-year: plus 4.6% vs. plus 5.0% expected
Click here to read the full report from Alexandra Semenova at Yahoo Finance.
