Posted on 01/04/2019 6:03:16 AM PST by ScottinVA
Job creation ended 2018 on a powerful note, with nonfarm payrolls surging by 312,000 in December though the unemployment rate rose to 3.9 percent.
The jobless rate, which was last higher in June, rose for the right reason as 419,000 new workers entered the workforce and the labor force participation rate increased to 63.1 percent. The participation level was up 0.2 percentage points from November and 0.4 percentage points compared with a year earlier.
A broader measure of unemployment that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons held steady at 7.6 percent.
In addition to the big job gains, wages jumped 3.2 percent from a year ago and 0.4 percent over the previous month. The year-over-year increase is tied with October for the best since April 2009. The average work week rose 0.1 hour to 34.5 hours.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting job growth of just 176,000, though they projected the unemployment rate to fall to 3.6 percent. The wage number also was well above expectations of 3 percent on the year and 0.3 percent from November.
The report, released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, comes amid concern over whether the U.S. economy is part of a global deceleration, despite turning in its best year since the Great Recession.
Data released this week showed a key manufacturing mark hitting a two-year low and mortgage volume at its lowest in 18 years.
The jobs market, however, remains hot.
Payrolls growth totaled 2.6 million in 2018, the highest since 2015 and well above the 2.2 million in 2017.
Health care led the way in new jobs, adding 50,000 for the month thanks to 38,000 new positions in ambulatory services and 7,000 more in hospitals. The industry saw a boom of 346,000 for the year, compared with a 284,000 gain the year before.
Restaurants and bars added 41,000 to the close the year with a 235,000 gain, down from 261,000 in 2017.
Construction also was one of the big gainers despite a slumping housing market. The industry added 38,000 jobs in December, bringing the annual total to 280,000, a 12 percent gain from 2017's 250,000.
Manufacturing also tuned in a solid 32,000 gain for the month, with the bulk of the growth coming from the 19,000 positions added in the key durable goods sector. The sector also saw a surge in 2018, with the 284,000 new positions representing a 37 percent rise from the previous year.
Another closely watched sector, retail, posted growth of 24,000 thanks to a holiday season boost. For the year, retail added 92,000, reversing the loss of 29,000 in 2017.
Government jobs saw a gain of 11,000.
Previous months also saw positive revisions, adding to the upbeat tone for the year. November saw its disappointing 155,000 original report revised up to 176,000, while October's count went from 274,000 to 237,000, for a net gain of 58,000 from the previous tallies.
Those revisions brought the three-month average up to a strong 254,000.
The report comes at a time of heightened market concerns over the Federal Reserve's future path. The U.S. central bank raised interest rates four times in 2018 in an effort to prevent the economy from overheating, but President Donald Trump has criticized the Fed for endangering the economic recovery.
Futures traders expect the Fed to hold steady through the year, and in fact are pricing in a 45 percent of a rate cut by the end of 2019.
Main Street is winning!
AOC was unavailable for comment.
GOOD!
I’ll do you one better. I had to fly into a southern city (I won’t say which one)....late at night....need a rental car. I went and there was one single place open and the manager was the last person there. Young lady, probably 22, dressed as you’d expect for a manager. We got to talking while waiting for the print-out. She is a college graduate (3 months out of college), and this was the only job she could get. Full-up 4-year degree....for a car rental shop at a small airport. In the 1970s....it would have been some 50-year old guy, high school diploma.
I asked about pay, this being a car rental manager job. It was basically $24k a year. Her problem was that she owed around $40k in student loans and really needed to start paying this off. I didn’t say anything but this was a lousy excuse for someone having a degree. It used to be that a degree meant something. Now? I’m like you....it’s a big question mark on value.
Ya, but how much did they make?
I remember my first military paycheck for the MONTH was $52.
Now, an Airman Basic (E1) gets $1,638 a month.
HHHUUGGGEE difference in pay from 60+ years ago for almost everyone.
Volcker had a pair to raise FED interest rates high enough to kill inflation down to nothing. Very few people would have the big brass ones to do that. The economy recovery which followed was due to much lower inflation during last 5 years of Reagan.
One of the guys who often joined my golf foursome walked 36 holes playing above average golf and pushing his golf cart. Guess what? He was collecting disability checks because one of his legs was thinner than the other!
Volcker had a pair to raise FED interest rates high enough to kill inflation down to nothing.
...
Reagan killed inflation with deregulation and pro growth policies. Volcker caused a bad recession. Democrats love Volcker.
Good post!
Powell deserves to take a victory lap! Read my post above (I think #27) and learn why FED is doing what it must do.
This is so true.
In the past week, I know of three people who lost their jobs, and got a better one the VERY NEXT DAY.
In the past, the loss of a job meant weeks of unemployment (or even MONTHS), countless tuning up of resumes, on-line postings, vain attempts at networking, and general malaise.
It also goes to show how the job market (America's real economy - production/consumption) is largely divorced from how the stock market (the economy of speculation) is doing.
The elites are wailing about a "recession" because the stock market is doing poorly. Back when the stock market actually represented investment in production, this would have mattered. Thanks to futures/derivatives trading combined with offshoring, there is little to no connection. The stock market could be doing well in times of mass unemployment, and conversely the market can crash when we have near full-employment.
You call TRIPLING federal spending as pro growth? Nancy calls it federal stimulous. Besides Reagan encouraged trade with China, which then resulted in evisceration of middle class manufacturing jobs. Reducing regulation was a good thing. Military replenishment after Carter was a good thing. Tripling federal spending was very bad along with China trade.
You are one of the few here who understand stock market and main Street economy jobs are not conjugate twins! I appreciate your post.
George H.W. Bush was the one pushing a minimal-tariff trade policy with China when he was VP. Unfortunately, Reagan went along with what was then and remains today a bad idea.
Or she’ll remind us that every $100 of unemployment benefits puts way more than that into the economy.......
And don’t forget how easily Tip O’Neill bamboozled Reagan into tripling federal spending and lied about cutting programs.
Do it democrats see what happens - they really are that stupid
You’re putting words in my mouth.
Reagan did have pro growth policies and deregulated. Do you remember what happened when he deregulated the oil market? Oil prices were a big cause of the inflation we had in the 1970’s.
Volcker is a fake hero and adored by the Democrats. It’s a shame that some FReepers do the same.
Some people do actually need the disability payments.
Many others, however, are just abusing the system. A neighbor’s son has been on “disability” for over 10 years. He and his girlfriend both get it. Both in their 40’s. Both smoke dope, spend much time on their computers throughout the day. Both physically in better shape than many older folks you might see in the work force limping around (like those older souls at Walmart still having to work).
Mentally also this guy and girlfriend are okay (though would be much more capable if they weren’t smoking dope).
Somehow they got on the “system” years ago and are able to continue in it. They have no plans to look for a job. They also get food stamps. No telling how many other thousands across the U.S. are doing the exact same thing. There is much abuse in the disability system. But I realize there are legitimate cases also.
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