The nation’s employers added a robust 216,000 jobs last month, the Associated Press reports, the latest sign that the American job market remains resilient even in the face of sharply higher interest rates.
Today’s report from the Labor Department showed that December’s job gain exceeded the 173,000 that were added in November. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7% — the 23rd straight month that joblessness has remained below 4%.
The latest data reflect an economy and a job market that are decelerating back to pre-pandemic norms. Hiring remains steady, and while employers are posting fewer openings, they are not laying off many workers.
The labor market’s cool-down has been nowhere near enough to signal that a recession is on the way. Normally, slowing job growth might be a cause for concern, but under the current circumstances, with inflation still above the Fed’s 2% annual target, a more moderate pace of hiring is seen as just what the economy needs.
Lower demand for workers tends to ease the pressure on employers to raise pay to keep or attract workers and to pass on their higher labor costs to customers by raising prices.
