by Calculated Risk on 1/09/2026 08:30:00 AM
From the BLS: Employment Situation
Both total nonfarm payroll employment (+50,000) and the unemployment rate (4.4 percent)
changed little in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment
continued to trend up in food services and drinking places, health care, and social
assistance. Retail trade lost jobs.
…
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised down by 68,000, from
-105,000 to -173,000, and the change for November was revised down by 8,000, from +64,000 to
+56,000. With these revisions, employment in October and November combined is 76,000 lower
than previously reported.
emphasis added
Click on graph for larger image.
The first graph shows the jobs added per month since January 2021.
Payrolls for October and November were revised down by 76 thousand, combined. The economy has only added 93 thousand jobs since April (8 months).
The second graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968.
In December, the year-over-year change was 0.594 million jobs.
The third graph shows the employment population ratio and the participation rate.
The Labor Force Participation Rate decreased to 62.4% in December, from 62.5% in November. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force.
The Employment-Population ratio increased to 59.7% from 59.6% in November (blue line).
I’ll post the 25 to 54 age group employment-population ratio graph later.
The fourth graph shows the unemployment rate.
The unemployment rate was decreased to 4.4% in December from 4.5% in November.
This was slightly below consensus expectations, however, October and November payrolls were revised down by 76,000 combined.
Overall another weak report.
I’ll have more later …
