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MNI BRIEF: US Dec Job Gains Solid, Keeping Fed On Hiking Path

Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash
(MNI) WASHINGTON

U.S. employers added 223,000 jobs in December, a tad above Wall Street expectations for a 200,000 gain, while the unemployment rate dipped to a half-century low of 3.5% again, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The strong labor market data should keep the Federal Reserve on its path of "ongoing" rate increases laid out at last month's meeting.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% over the month, slowing a tenth from November, and were up 4.6% from a year earlier. Both the ADP employment report and a St. Louis Fed analysis of high-frequency private pay data corroborated the cooldown in wage pressures this month.

The labor force participation rate was 62.3% and was in a range of 62.1% to 62.4% all of 2022, still 1 pp below its pre-pandemic level.

Source: BLS

MNI Washington Bureau | +1 202-371-2121 | jean.yung@marketnews.com
MNI Washington Bureau | +1 202-371-2121 | jean.yung@marketnews.com

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