December 2017 Unemployment Rate, Jobs

The December 2017 Jobs Report was released by the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning, Friday, January 5, 2018.  Job growth slowed and the unemployment rate remained stable.

• The report showed an increase of 148,000 jobs which was a drop after November's increase of 252,000 jobs.
• The unemployment rate continued at 4.1% for the third consecutive month.

Other December 2017 Job Report Highlights: 

• In 2017, we added about 2.0 million jobs; slightly less than the 2.2 million jobs we added in 2016.
• Over the past 3 months, job gains have averaged 204,000 per month.  Over the past 12 months, job gains have averaged  171,000 per month.
• The number of employed people increased by 104,000 in the month; the number of employed people increased by 1,788,000 over the year.
• The number of unemployed people DECREASED by  40,000 even as 64,000 people joined the labor force during the month.
• The number of unemployed people decreased by 926,000 over the year even as 861,000 people joined the labor force.  (You don't have to be receiving unemployment benefits to be counted as unemployed; you merely need to be looking for work.)
• 35,000 FEWER people are working full-time and 119,000 MORE  people were working part-time in December vs. November in seasonally-adjusted numbers.
• Compared to December 2016, 2,422,000 MORE people are working full-time and 633,000  FEWER people are working part-time using seasonally adjusted numbers. 
• The alternate unemployment rate (U-6) increased slightly to 8.1% this month.  A year ago the U-6 rate was 9.1%.
• The Labor Force participation rate has been VERY stable since 2014, varying between 62.4% and 63%.  It was 62.7% in December 2017, exactly the same as it was in December 2016.
• Remember that there is NO ideal labor force size, and most of the overall decrease in the labor force participation RATE over the last few years has been due to Baby Boomers retiring in great numbers.

Revisions from the last BLS report: 

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised down from +244,000 to +211,000, and the change for November was revised up from +228,000 to +252,000. With these revisions, employment gains in October and November combined were 9,000 less 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.) After revisions, job gains have averaged 204,000 over the last 3 months. 

• Job Growth Under Trump?  HERE 
• Obama's final jobs numbers HERE.
• Trump's million jobs:  Good or bad? HERE
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Other December 2017 reports will be added and indexed here as they become available over the next hours and days.  Please check back!