As the US struggles with a significant spike in covid-19 cases, its economy added fewer jobs in December — 199,000 vs. 400,000 predicted by Economists polled by Reuters.
According to data from the Labour department, Nonfarm payrolls for December advanced by 199,000 against the 249,000 jobs created in November. Also, the unemployment rate fell to 3.9% from 4.2% in the prior month, signalling an increase in the number of workers employed. The mixed performance raises concern about the conditions of the economy as to whether economic activities are really recovering or whether the omicron variant of the covid-19 is beginning to hit the economy.
Behind the Numbers
The shortage of migrant workers, the recent cancellation of thousands of flights and the suspension of in-person learning modes in some US schools threatens the U.S employment growth in the near term.
Also Read: Nigerian Youth: Unemployed and Unemployable?
Due to the continuous increase of covid cases each day, shrinking unemployment results, and the predicted interest rate hike by the Fed, the US economy may be at crossroads, with these developments threatening to halt the good economic outlook in 2022.
At the very least, these stories aren’t as bad as Big Brother Africa in Green, White, Green!
