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December’s Job Numbers Disappoint, but Cap a Winning Decade
January 10, 2020
The U.S. job market ended 2019 on a down note. The economy added 145,000 jobs last month, falling short of economist predictions of 160,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.5 percent, meeting expectations. Wage growth also missed expectations, rising by 2.9 percent annually. This marks the first time that year-over-year wage gains fell below 3 percent since July 2018.
While the year ended on something of a sour note, the decade was a winning one for job growth. Last year marks the 10the straight year of job gains, the longest stretch in 80 years of data. In the last decade, employers have added 22.58 million jobs, a strong turnaround from the previous decade, which saw payrolls fall by nearly 1 million.
