There was a mixed bag of news coming out of the December jobs report released by the Labor Department Friday. The unemployment rate fell to a pandemic low 3.9%, but the United States only added about 199,000 jobs. That’s down from the 210,000 jobs added in November, which in itself was the slowest hiring pace in nearly a year.
According to the report, “employment continued to trend up in leisure and hospitality, in professional and business services, in manufacturing, in construction, and in transportation and warehousing” in December.
“In December, employment showed little or no change in other major industries, including retail trade, information, financial activities, health care, other services, and government,” the report said.
Despite the sluggish growth in the December jobs report, President Joe Biden touted the country’s job recovery over the past year Friday. The video above shows clips from his speech.
“We have added 6.4 million new jobs since January of last year, in one year…that’s the most jobs in any calendar year by any president in history,” President Biden said. The economy is still about 3.6 million jobs short of its pre-pandemic level. Biden added that December was “the first time the unemployment rate has been under four percent in the first year of a presidential term in 50 years.”
Wages also rose sharply in December, with average hourly pay jumping 4.7% compared with a year ago. Experts have warned that low unemployment and rapid wage gains could further heighten inflation, as companies raise prices to cover rising labor costs. To combat inflation, most economists expect the Federal Reserve to raise its benchmark short-term rate two or three times in 2022, beginning in March. In addition, minutes from the Fed’s December meeting released earlier this week showed officials had discussed shrinking the U.S. central bank’s overall asset holdings.
Economists have cautioned that job growth may slow in January and possibly February due to the surging Omicron variant of COVID-19. The variant has forced millions of newly infected Americans to stay home and quarantine, causing staffing shortages in various industries.