by Calculated Risk on 1/10/2020 08:44:00 AM

From the BLS:

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 145,000 in December, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.5 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in retail trade and health care, while mining lost jobs.
...
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised down by 4,000 from +156,000 to +152,000, and the change for November was revised down by 10,000 from +266,000 to +256,000. With these revisions, employment gains in October and November combined were 14,000 lower than previously reported.
...
In December, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 3 cents to $28.32. Over the last 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 2.9 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 145 thousand in December (private payrolls increased 139 thousand).

Payrolls for October and November were revised down 14 thousand combined.

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

In November, the year-over-year change was 2.108 million jobs.

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

The Labor Force Participation Rate was unchanged in December at 63.2%. 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 and long term trends.

The Employment-Population ratio was unchanged at 61.0% (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 3.5%.

This was below consensus expectations of 160,000 jobs added, and October and November were revised down by 14,000 combined.

I'll have much more later ...

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