by Calculated Risk on 1/08/2016 08:30:00 AM

From the BLS:

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 292,000 in December, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment gains occurred in several industries, led by professional and business services, construction, health care, and food services and drinking places. Mining employment continued to decline.
...
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised from +298,000 to +307,000, and the change for November was revised from +211,000 to +252,000. With these revisions, employment gains in October and November combined were 50,000 higher than previously reported.
...
In December, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls, at $25.24, changed little (-1 cent), following an increase of 5 cents in November. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.5 percent.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows the monthly change in payroll jobs, ex-Census (meaning the impact of the decennial Census temporary hires and layoffs is removed - mostly in 2010 - to show the underlying payroll changes).

Total payrolls increased by 292 thousand in December (private payrolls increased 275 thousand).

Payrolls for October and November were revised up by a combined 50 thousand.

This graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968.

In December, the year-over-year change was 2.65 million jobs.

This was the 2nd best year since the '90s.

1) 2014: 3.116 million jobs added
2) 2015: 2.650 million
3) 2005: 2.506 million


The third graph shows the employment population ratio and the participation rate.

The Labor Force Participation Rate increased in December to 62,6%. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force.   A large portion of the recent decline in the participation rate is due to demographics.

The Employment-Population ratio increased to 59.4% (black line).

I'll post the 25 to 54 age group employment-population ratio graph later.

The fourth graph shows the unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate was unchanged in December at 5.0%.

This was above expectations of 200,000 jobs, and revisions were up ... a strong report.

I'll have much more later ...