The Labor Department said Friday that the U.S. economy added far fewer jobs than expected in December.
The unemployment rate fell to 3.9% as nonfarm payrolls grew by 199,000. The unemployment rate was 4.1% and the payrolls number was 422,000.
Bond yields were in positive territory but stock market futures were lower after the report.
The leisure and hospitality sector added 53,000 jobs. Professional and business services added 43,000.
The unemployment rate fell to a new low of 3.5% in February 2020. The labor force participation rate was unchanged despite the labor shortage in the U.S.
The unemployment rate that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons fell to 7.3%. Unemployment for Blacks went up to 7.1% in the month, up from 6.5%. The rate for women 20 years and older fell from 3.7% to 3.0%.
Average hourly earnings rose more than expected. Wages were up 4.7% for the year. That is lower than estimates of 0.4% and 4.2%.
The establishment survey showed lower than expected job gains, but the household count showed a much larger gain. The final October tally was pushed up to 648,000, an increase of 102,000, while November's disappointing report gained 39,000 in its first revision to 249,000.
The total employment level was NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster NationMaster The labor force participation rate is 1.5 percentage points lower than it was a year ago. Through November, there were more jobs than unemployed workers.
The numbers suggest that worker shortages were becoming a bigger restraint on employment growth, even before the Omicron surge in infections, which could knock hundreds of thousands off payrolls in January.
Construction, transportation and warehousing, and wholesale trade all saw job gains.
More than half a million Covid cases per day, many related to the omicron variant, threaten to stall an economic recovery that looks to accelerate in 2022.
The Atlanta Fed expects GDP to rise at the end of the year, despite growth slowing through the summer. The data has been closely watched by Federal Reserve officials.
The central bank has been providing help to the economy since the beginning of the Pandemic.
The report covered the week before the worst of an omicron spike that began heading into Christmas.
The BLS data was conflicting with a report from payrolls processing firm, which said private payrolls increased by 807,000. The weekly unemployment claims came in at 207,000 for the week ended January 1st, the lowest in 52 years.
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