The U.S. Labor
Department reported on Friday that nonfarm payrolls surged by 256,000 in December
2024 after a downwardly revised 212,000 gain (from 227,000) in November 2024. This marked the strongest monthly gain since March (+310,000) 2024.
According to
the report, employment improved in health care (+46,000), retail trade (+43,000),
government (+33,000), and social assistance (+23,000).
The
unemployment rate dropped to 4.1 per
cent from an unrevised 4.2 per cent.
Economists had expected
the nonfarm payrolls to increase by 160,000 and the jobless rate to remain unchanged at 4.2 per cent.
The labour
force participation rate held steady at 62.5 per cent in December, while hourly earnings
for private-sector workers went up 0.3 per cent m-o-m (or $0.10) to $35.69, following an unrevised 0.4 per cent m-o-m
climb in November. This
was the weakest monthly gain in three months. Economists had predicted
the average hourly earnings to advance by 0.3 per cent m-o-m in December.
Over the year,
the average hourly earnings jumped 3.9 per cent in December, following an
unrevised 4.0 per cent surge in the previous month. This
marked the first deceleration in annual average hourly earnings growth in five
months and represented the weakest annual advance since September 2024 (+3.9
per cent). Economists had foreseen the annual wage growth to hold
steady at 4.0 per cent in December.
The
average workweek was unchanged at 34.3 hours last month, in line with economists' estimate of 34.3 hours.
In 2024, payroll employment rose by 2.2 million (an
average monthly gain of 186,000), less than the advance of 3.0 million in 2023
(an average monthly gain of 251,000).