In March we will start counting the number of jobs created and lost as well as reviewing the general employment situation under President Donald Trump. But this report and next month's January 2017 report fall into the Obama bucket.
I've seen some reports, including one at CNN, that this is Obama's last full month responsible for the economy and jobs numbers. While, it is true that December was Obama's last full month responsible for the economy, the jobs numbers are based on activity as of the week which includes the 12th day of the month. January 12th is a full week before Obama leaves office, and January jobs numbers will fall under Obama, just as January jobs numbers in 2009 fell under Bush.
More about all of this later, but this report, based on data of the week which includes December 12, 2016, shows a mediocre 156,000 net payroll job increase. However, the November estimate was increased by 26,000. Unemployment inched up to 4.7% (from 4.6%) but mostly due to 184,000 people entering the civilian labor force in December.
