President Obama talks with workers during a tour of the Daimler Detroit Diesel Plant in Redford, Mich., Dec. 10, 2012.(Photo: Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images)
The economy ended 2012 with 155,000 more jobs last month and a 7.8% unemployment rate.
In November, the unemployment rate was 7.7%.
Ahead
of today's Labor Department report, many economists had forecast the
economy added 150,000 to 160,000 jobs overall in December. But job
market data released Thursday raised the prospect of a positive
surprise.
Payroll processor ADP on Thursday said its monthly
survey found private employers added 215,000 jobs last month, far more
than expected. And outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas
said announced job cuts in December fell 43% from November to the
second-lowest monthly total of the year.
Initial jobless claims for the past week did jump, but analysts
pointed out they're often distorted by year-end holidays. The four-week
moving average - which smooths out weekly distortions - was little
changed.
The last monthly data on the 2012 job market enhances
the picture of an economy still healing from the deep recession that
began five years ago last month and ended in mid-2009.
Not
counting December, U.S. job gains have averaged fewer than 155,000 a
month the past two years. Economists say the number should be twice that
to keep up with population growth and support a healthy economy.
The
unemployment rate did fall the past year - from 8.5% in December 2011 -
but some of that improvement has come from people leaving the labor
force. Some retired and some went back to school. But when jobless
workers stop looking for jobs, they're no longer counted as unemployed.
Since
the recession's official end, the number of Americans 16 and over who
aren't in the labor force - meaning they're either employed or seeking
employment - has grown by about 8 million.
USA Today