Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 157,000 in December, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.4 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Job growth continued in several service-providing industries.
Unemployment (Household Survey Data)
Both the number of unemployed persons, 8.0 million, and the unemployment rate, 5.4 percent, were unchanged in December. The jobless rate has been either 5.4 or 5.5 percent in each month since July, slightly below the rates that prevailed in the first half of 2004.In December, the unemployment rates for the major worker groups--adult men (4.9 percent), adult women (4.7 percent), teenagers (17.6 percent), whites (4.6 percent), blacks (10.8 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (6.6 percent)--showed little or no change over the month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 4.1 percent in December, not seasonally adjusted.
The number of long-term unemployed--those unemployed 27 weeks and over-was about unchanged over the month. This group accounted for 20.2 percent of the total unemployed.
Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
Total employment, at 140.2 million in December, was little changed over the month but was 1.7 million higher than a year earlier. The proportion of the working-age population that was employed (the employment-population ratio) was 62.4 percent in December, about the same as a year earlier. Both the civilian labor force, at 148.2 million in December, and the labor force participation rate, at 66.0 percent, were about unchanged from the previous month.The number of persons who work part time for economic reasons, at 4.5 million, was about unchanged in December but was down by 308,000 over the year. This category includes persons who indicated that they would like to work full time but were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find full-time jobs.
Over the year, the number of persons who held more than one job increased by 574,000 to 7.8 million, not seasonally adjusted. These multiple jobholders represented 5.6 percent of total employment in December.
Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
There were 1.5 million persons who were marginally attached to the labor force in December, essentially the same as a year earlier. (Data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals wanted and were available to work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed, however, because they did not actively search for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 442,000 discouraged workers in December, about the same as a year earlier. Discouraged workers were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them. The other 1.0 million marginally attached had not searched for work for reasons such as school or family responsibilities.
