U.S. Employers Added 223,000 New Jobs in December, a Strong Showing amid Slight Slowdown

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 223,000 in December, and the unemployment rate
edged down to 3.5 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job
gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, health care, construction, and social assistance.

This news release presents statistics from two monthly surveys. The household survey 
measures labor force status, including unemployment, by demographic characteristics. The
establishment survey measures nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings by industry. For more
information about the concepts and statistical methodology used in these two surveys, see
the Technical Note.

Household Survey Data

The unemployment rate edged down to 3.5 percent in December and has remained in a narrow 
range of 3.5 percent to 3.7 percent since March. The number of unemployed persons edged 
down to 5.7 million in December. 

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for Whites fell to 3.0 percent in 
December. The jobless rates for adult men (3.1 percent), adult women (3.2 percent), 
teenagers (10.4 percent), Blacks (5.7 percent), Asians (2.4 percent), and Hispanics (4.1 
percent) showed little or no change over the month. 

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) declined by 146,000
to 1.1 million in December. This measure is down from 2.0 million a year earlier. The long-
term unemployed accounted for 18.5 percent of all unemployed persons. 

The employment-population ratio increased by 0.2 percentage point over the month to 60.1 
percent. The labor force participation rate was little changed at 62.3 percent. Both measures
have shown little net change since early 2022. These measures are each 1.0 percentage point
below their values in February 2020, prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons, at 3.9 million, changed little
in December. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working 
part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs. 

The number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job fell by 352,000 to 5.2
million in December and is little different from its February 2020 level of 5.1 million. 
These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for
work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job. 

Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of persons marginally 
attached to the labor force declined by 231,000 to 1.3 million in December. These individuals
wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months
but had not looked for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged 
workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for 
them, numbered 410,000 in December, essentially unchanged from the previous month. 


Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 223,000 in December. Notable job gains occurred
in leisure and hospitality, health care, construction, and social assistance. Payroll 
employment rose by 4.5 million in 2022 (an average monthly gain of 375,000), less than the 
increase of 6.7 million in 2021 (an average monthly gain of 562,000). 

In December, employment in leisure and hospitality rose by 67,000. Employment continued to 
trend up in food services and drinking places (+26,000); amusements, gambling, and recreation
(+25,000); and accommodation (+10,000). Leisure and hospitality added an average of 79,000
jobs per month in 2022, substantially less than the average gain of 196,000 jobs per month in
2021. Employment in the industry remains below its pre-pandemic February 2020 level by 
932,000, or 5.5 percent.

Health care employment increased by 55,000 in December, with gains in ambulatory health care
services (+30,000), hospitals (+16,000), and nursing and residential care facilities (+9,000).
Job growth in health care averaged 49,000 per month in 2022, considerably above the 2021
average monthly gain of 9,000.

Employment in construction increased by 28,000 in December, as specialty trade contractors
added 17,000 jobs. Construction employment increased by an average of 19,000 per month in 
2022, little different than the average of 16,000 per month in 2021.

Social assistance added 20,000 jobs in December. Employment in individual and family services
continued to trend up over the month (+10,000). Job growth in social assistance averaged 
17,000 per month in 2022, compared with the 2021 average of 13,000 per month.

Employment in the other services industry continued to trend up in December (+14,000). 
Monthly job growth in other services averaged 14,000 in 2022, lower than the average of 
24,000 per month in 2021. Employment in other services is below its February 2020 level by 
174,000, or 2.9 percent. 

In December, mining employment increased by 4,000, reflecting job growth in support
activities for mining (+5,000). Since a recent low in February 2021, mining employment has 
grown by 104,000.

Employment in retail trade changed little in December (+9,000). Job growth in retail trade 
averaged 16,000 per month in 2022, less than half the average growth of 35,000 per month in 
2021.

Over the month, employment in manufacturing changed little (+8,000), as job gains in durable
goods (+24,000) were partially offset by losses in nondurable goods (-16,000). In 2022, 
manufacturing added an average of 32,000 jobs per month, little different than the average 
of 30,000 jobs per month in 2021.

In December, employment in transportation and warehousing changed little (+5,000). Air 
transportation (+3,000) added jobs over the month, while employment continued to trend down 
in couriers and messengers (-4,000) and in warehousing and storage (-3,000). In 2022, average
job growth in transportation and warehousing (+17,000) was about half the average job growth
in 2021 (+36,000).

In December, government employment was essentially unchanged (+3,000). Employment in state 
government education declined by 24,000, reflecting strike activity among university 
employees.

Employment in professional and business services remained little changed in December 
(-6,000). Employment in temporary help services declined by 35,000 over the month and has 
fallen by 111,000 since July. Job growth in professional and business services averaged 
50,000 per month in 2022, roughly half of the average of 94,000 per month in 2021.

Over the month, employment showed little change in other major industries, including 
wholesale trade, information, and financial activities.

In December, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 
9 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $32.82. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have
increased by 4.6 percent. In December, average hourly earnings of private-sector production
and nonsupervisory employees rose by 6 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $28.07. 

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls declined by 0.1 hour to
34.3 hours in December. In manufacturing, the average workweek for all employees was little
changed at 40.1 hours, and overtime declined by 0.2 hour to 2.9 hours. The average workweek
for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased by 0.1 
hour to 33.8 hours. 

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised down by 21,000, from
+284,000 to +263,000, and the change for November was revised down by 7,000, from +263,000 
to +256,000. With these revisions, employment gains in October and November combined were 
28,000 lower than previously reported. (Monthly revisions result from additional reports 
received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and 
from the recalculation of seasonal factors.)