USA employers added 292K jobs in December

As it has been for multiple years now, the strong report was a welcome respite for the United States economy after uncertainty in other areas.

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 292,000 jobs in December, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It also includes discouraged workers who have dropped out of the labor force.

The BLS also revised the job numbers up for October and November to 307,000 and 252,00 respectively, a net increase of 50,000 jobs for those two months.

All told, employers created 2.65 million new jobs last year – not as strong as 2014’s 3.2 million total jobs, but enough to make 2015 the second-best year for USA job growth since 1999, The Associated Press reports.

“While it is a strong (jobs) report overall, it is not so positive as to overshadow the troubling developments in China recently, and the Fed will likely need more ammunition before it goes authorizes another rate hike”, says Curt Long, chief economist for the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, in a statement. The household survey showed the unemployment rate remained at 5.0 percent, but the employment rate rose to 59.5 percent, the highest rate of the recovery.

US payrolls swelled nearly 300,000 in December, bringing job growth during 2015 to almost 2.7 million. That’s only the second time since the recession ended that it has reached that level.

The Fed lifted its target rate by 0.25 percentage point in December after holding it near zero for seven years, and policy makers forecast four more increases this year. There was a 45,000 jump in construction employment, with more increased expected (see below). That was far more than the 200,000 jobs analysts had been predicting.

USA manufacturers added 30,000 jobs a year ago, a marked decline from 2014.

The World Bank said this week that Mexico and emerging markets in Central America should fare better than the rest of South America due to their proximity to the healthier USA economy.

The dollar has climbed about 10 percent in value in the past year compared with overseas currencies. But signs of strength in the USA economy is changing that view.

America’s economy made major progress on a number of measures past year. And falling oil prices and weak global demand are holding consumer inflation at historically low levels. Oil and gas drillers have responded by slashing payrolls and sharply cutting spending on steel pipes and other drilling equipment. Over the year, those industries added 655,000, 605,000, and 419,000 jobs in 2015.

For months, US employers have hired steadily even as global growth has flagged and financial markets have sunk.

The retail sales shift puts a premium on managing the distribution of goods from warehouses to homes, requires the shipment of high volumes of small packages that require more labor in shipping than traditional brick-and-mortar retail models. And that raises some important questions – and doubts – about what will happen in 2016.