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US adds 155,000 jobs last month
The US added 155,000 jobs in December, with the unemployment rate steady at 7.8 per cent, official figures showed today.
Employment increased in the healthcare, food services, construction and manufacturing sectors.
The number of unemployed people in the US was broadly flat over the month, at 12.2m.
On average last year, 153,000 jobs were added each month – just shy of December’s data.
“This employment report leaves expectations for future Fed policy broadly unchanged,” Rob Carnell, chief economist at ING, said today.
“That said, even at 7.8 per cent, we believe that the unemployment rate may well threaten the Fed’s 6.5 per cent line in the sand earlier than mid-2015, which seems to be the Fed’s own expectation,” he added.