December jobs breakdown: Which industries hired the most workers last month?
‘Mornings with Maria’ panelists react to December’s better-than-expected jobs report, detailing its expected impact on the labor market and U.S. economy.
The U.S. economy continued to add jobs at a solid clip in December, as strong hiring in health care and the government helped to boost the overall payroll figure.
Employers added 216,000 jobs in December, the Labor Department said in its monthly payroll report released Friday, topping the 170,000 gain forecast by Refinitiv economists. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7%.
«Don’t be fooled by the strong job report for December,» said Sung Won Sohn, professor of finance and economics at Loyola Marymount University. «More than 86% of the gain for the month came from health care, government and construction and leisure and hospitality.»
US ECONOMY ADDS 216K JOBS IN DECEMBER, BEATING EXPECTATIONS
Jobseekers visit booths during the spring job fair at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas on April 15, 2022. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal / Getty Images)
The government accounted for the biggest payroll gains last month, with the sector adding 52,000 jobs in December. Employment continued to trend upward in local government (37,000) and the federal government (7,000). In total, the government hired an average of 56,000 workers per month in 2023 – more than double the average monthly gain seen the previous year.
There were also sizable gains within the leisure and hospitality sector last month, with payrolls growing by 40,000. Nearly all the hiring was done by bars and restaurants, with employment jumping by 22,100. Hotels hired about 6,300 workers.
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Hiring in the health care sector was the
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