Jason Hopkins on January 4, 2019
The U.S. economy added 312,000 jobs in the month of December and the unemployment rate trickled up slight to 3.9 percent, the Department of Labor (DOL) reported on Friday morning.
The U.S. economy added 312,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in the month of December. The number blew past economists’ expectations — who forecasted only 182,000 jobs would be added in the final month of 2018. The Department of Labor jobs report caps what has been a strong year for the American economy.
A large portion of the growth occurred in health care, construction, food services, retail trade and manufacturing.
The report likely eases fears that the U.S. job market might be headed for a slowdown.
However, jobless claims rose by .2 percent, likely because of the partial government shutdown, as part-time government workers were taken off the federal payroll.
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