Employment & Unemployment Rates Virtually Unchanged in Dec.

Washington, DC, January 9, 2026--Both total nonfarm payroll employment (+50,000) and the unemployment rate (4.4%)changed little in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.  

Employment continued to trend up in food services and drinking places, healthcare, and social assistance. Retail trade lost jobs.

“Employers hired at a subdued pace in December, closing out a year that saw the U.S. labor market cool into a ‘low hire, low fire’ stasis,” said the Wall Street Journal.

“American employers added a seasonally adjusted 50,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate fell to 4.4%, the Labor Department reported Friday.

“That was below the 73,000 new jobs that economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected to see, and was weaker than the revised 56,000 jobs added in November.

“October’s job losses were revised even lower in Friday’s report, to a decline of 173,000. November’s job gains were also revised down, meaning employment was 76,000 lower than previously reported in those two months.”