U.S. Employment Jumps By 216,000 Jobs In December, Much More Than Expected

(RTTNews) - A closely watched report released by the Labor Department on Friday showed employment in the U.S. jumped by much more than expected in the month of December.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment surged by 216,000 jobs in December compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 170,000 jobs.

At the same time, the report also showed notable downward revisions to the pace of job growth in October and November.

The increases in employment in October and November were downwardly revised to 105,000 jobs and 173,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net downward revision of 71,000 jobs.

"A bigger-than-expected rise in December payrolls offset by a big downward revision to October and November suggests a pretty ho-hum report on balance," said FHN Financial Chris Low.

"There's no recession threat in this report, nor any reason for the Fed to worry about overheating," he added. "It is as safely down the middle as they come."

The stronger than expected job growth in December came as employment continued to trend up in the government, healthcare, social assistance, and construction sectors, while the transportation and warehousing sector lost jobs.

Meanwhile, the report said the unemployment rate came in at 3.7 percent in December, unchanged from November. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to inch up to 3.8 percent.

The unemployment rate came in unchanged as the household survey measure of employment plunged by 683,000 persons, while the labor force shrank by 676,000 persons.

The report also said average hourly employee earnings climbed by $0.15 or 0.4 percent to $34.27 in December.

The annual rate of wage growth crept up to 4.1 percent in December from 4.0 percent in November, while economists had expected the pace of growth to slow to 3.9 percent.