For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. The Labor Department reported the economy added 108,000 payroll jobs in December. The consensus forecast was 207,000, and my forecast, published by Reuters was 180,000. Unemployment fell to 4.9 percent, mainly because fewer adults chose to participate in the labor force. In the fourth quarter, 438,000 jobs were added, and this is consistent with GDP growth in the range of 3.0 to 3.5 percent Economic growth appears to be moderating from the red hot numbers posted in the third quarter, and if the Fed does not push interest rates too much...
