Unemployment hits six-year low
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The U.S. economy added 252,000 jobs in December, and the unemployment rate fell from 5.8 percent to 5.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
It is the nation’s lowest unemployment rate since June 2008.
The number of jobs gained marked the 11th straight month of above 200,000, and exceeded analysts’ expected figure of 240,000. Experts also had predicted a slightly higher unemployment figure for December of 5.7 percent.
An alternative measure that includes people who are underemployed or who have stopped looking for work also declined in December from 11.4 percent to 11.2 percent.
Tempering the positive news, though, was that average hourly earnings decreased by 5 cents in December, to $24.57. They had increased by 6 cents the previous month. Over the year, the BLS reported, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.7 percent.
Also, the civilian labor force participation rate edged down by 0.2 percentage
point to 62.7 percent in December.
In December, the number of long-term unemployed, or people who have been jobless for at least 27 weeks, remained at 2.8 million, and accounted for roughly a third – 31.9 percent – of those unemployed.
December’s job gains were in the professional and business services sector (52,000), construction (48,000), food services and drinking places (44,000), health care (34,000), and manufacturing (17,000). The average workweek remained at 34.6 hours.
BLS Commissioner Erica L. Groshen said in a statement that job growth averaged 246,000 per month in 2014, after averaging 194,000 per month in 2013.
The BLS also revised upward its numbers of added jobs from the previous two months. October numbers were revised to 261,000 from 243,000, and the November numbers were revised to 353,000 from 321,000. With the revisions, employment gains in October and November combined were 50,000 more jobs than previously reported.
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