- Total non-farm payroll employment increased 145 thousand in December, following an increase of 256 thousand in the previous month, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Private-sector payrolls increased by 139 thousand in December, while government employment increased by 6 thousand. Notable job gains occurred in retail trade and health care, while mining lost jobs. Payroll employment rose by 2.1 million in the year 2019, compared with a gain of 2.7 million in 2018.
- The unemployment rate held steady at 3.5% in December, and the number of unemployed persons decreased by 58 thousand to 5.753 million. A year earlier, the jobless rate was 3.9%, and the number of unemployed persons was 6.286 million
- The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) decreased by 33 thousand to 1.186 million and accounted for 20.5% of the unemployed. Over the year, the number of long-term unemployed declined by 533 thousand.
- The labor force participation rate remained at 63.2% in December, and little changed over the year.
- The average workweek of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 34.3 hours in December.
- In December, average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 3 cents to $28.32. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings were up 2.9%.
- The advance figure for initial claims for unemployment insurance decreased 9 thousand to 214 thousand in the week ending January 4. The 4-week moving average was 224 thousand, a decrease of 9.5 thousand from the previous week’s revised average. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 28 was 1,803 thousand, an increase of 75 thousand from the previous week’s unrevised level of 1,728 thousand. The 4-week moving average was 1,744.75 thousand, an increase of 33 thousand from the previous week’s unrevised average of 1,711.75 thousand.
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