New York (CNN) — The US economy added 216,000 jobs in December, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday, blowing past expectations and capping off a year of resilience in the labor market.
The unemployment rate remained at 3.7%.
Economists were expecting net job gains of 160,000 for December and for the unemployment rate to tick up to 3.8%.
The continued strength in the labor market has helped to fuel consumer spending and economic growth. It has remained robust despite the Federal Reserve’s 11 rate hikes over the past two years to bust inflation.
Still, Fed officials believe slower demand will help bring down inflation.
Through 2023, the US recorded a net gain of nearly 2.7 million jobs, according to seasonally adjusted data from the BLS.
That’s almost half of the 4.79 million jobs gained in 2022, which was the second-highest annual total on records going back to 1939. It’s also significantly under 2021’s record-setting year, when 7.27 million jobs were added as the nation continued to recover from the massive losses seen during Covid.
However, the 2.7 million jobs yearly total is more in line with what was seen during the economic expansion that occurred in the decade before the pandemic.
December’s job growth was stronger than November’s tally of 173,000 jobs added, a total that was downwardly revised by 26,000 jobs. October’s net gain was revised down as well, by 45,000 to 105,000, according to the BLS.
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