Washington, DC, January 5, 2007--Employers added 167,000 workers to payrolls in December and incomes grew by the most in eight months, according to a report from the Labor Department. The jobless rate held at 4.5 percent.
The gain in employment followed a 154,000 rise in November and was larger than the 100,000 estimated by economists.
Workers' average hourly earnings rose 8 cents, or 0.5 percent, the most since April, after rising 0.3 percent the previous month. Economists expected a 0.3 percent increase in hourly wages. Earnings were up 4.2 percent from December 2005, a gain last exceeded in November 2000.
Economists also projected a 4.5 percent unemployment rate. Today's report includes annual revisions to the household survey used to calculate the unemployment rate. The revisions, which covered the period from 2002 to 2006, didn't change the unemployment rate for any month last year.
Last month's payroll gains were led by increases in banking, insurance, restaurants and building management. Altogether, service-producing industries contributed 178,000 new jobs last month after adding 195,000 in November, the report showed. Retailers shed 9,200 jobs.
Manufacturers shed 12,000 jobs last month after eliminating 20,000 jobs a month earlier. The manufacturing workweek held at 41 hours and overtime rose to 4.3 hours from 4.2 hours.
Manufacturing, which accounts for about 12 percent of the economy, has slowed as companies trying to pare swollen inventories postpone new orders.
Builders cut 3,000 jobs after eliminating 25,000 jobs in the prior month. Warmer-than-normal weather in much of the country may have prompted homebuilders to continue projects and postpone layoffs, said Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York.
Average weekly hours worked by production workers held at 33.9 for a third month, as forecast in the Bloomberg survey.
Average weekly earnings rose to $577.66 last month from $574.94 in November.
