Article source: ConstructConnect
Fighting through the headwinds of more restrictive interest rates, the U.S. economy managed another good month of jobs creation in December, +223,000 according to the BLS. It should be noted, however, that the month-to-month increase in nation-wide employment has been gradually diminishing over the past six months.
In fact, as is made clear in Graph 1, with the exception of July’s surge in hiring, month-to-month employment gains have been shrinking since early in 2022. The monthly average of new jobs creation throughout 2022 was off by a third compared with 2021, +375,000 versus +562,000.
The U.S. seasonally adjusted (SA) unemployment rate in December was 3.5%, down a smidge from 3.6% in November. The not seasonally adjusted (NSA) unemployment rate in the latest month was a mere 3.3%, also tightening a tad from the previous month’s figure, 3.4%.
