by Calculated Risk on 1/06/2006 02:37:00 PM

The BLS reported:

"Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 108,000 in December, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.9 percent"

Kash calls the report "disappointing" and pgl looks at the labor force participation rate and the employment-population ratio.


Click on graph for larger image.

Although the December report might be disappointing, the number of jobs created in 2005 seems solid.

A major concern going forward is the impact of a housing slowdown. Housing was once again a key driver for employment gains in 2005; construction alone added almost 250K jobs. Since construction usually accounts for around 5% of total employment, I would have expected around 100K construction jobs given the total employment growth.

The good news is the economy has been adding jobs at around the expected rate. The bad news is the economy is probably still too "housing centric".