The US economy added 50,000 jobs in December, according to Labor Department data published Friday, US unemployment rate also declined to 4.4%, from 4.6% in November.
Layoff announcements for December, for example, amounted to the lowest monthly total since July 2024, according to the global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. And private payroll data from ADP showed a gain of 41,000 new positions for December.
Jobless claims, meanwhile, rose slightly less than economists had expected last week. 2025 was the weakest year of employment growth outside of recession years since 2003, BLS data shows.
The labor market, which was already slowing heading into 2025, cooled sharply as hiring stalled out across most industries, a pullback economists attributed to high uncertainty (in part due to massive shifts in trade and immigration policy) as well as stubborn inflation and high interest rates.
The report presented a muddy view of the labor market, with companies reporting a low level of hiring but households showing employment gains.
In addition, revisions brought totals down for the prior months. November total saw a slight downward revision of 8,000 to the payrolls number, while October’s loss was even more than originally reported, now at 173,000 compared to the prior estimate of 105,000. For the full year, payroll gains averaged 49,000 a month, compared to 168,000 in 2024, according to the BLS.
