More bad news on the job front, as job growth slows to the lowest level in almost five
years and unemployment hits a two-year high.
The U.S. Labor Department reported yesterday that employers added just 18,000 jobs in December, the worst
performance since a decline of 42,000 in August 2003. December's small gains were down from November's
115,000 gain, which was revised up from an initial estimate of a 94,000 increase.
Furthermore, the unemployment rate jumped from 4.7 percent in November to 5 percent
in December -- the highest level since November 2005.
Economists had been predicting that employers would add about 70,000 jobs and that
unemployment would rise only to 4.8 percent.
Factories, retailers, construction companies, and financial service providers all cut
jobs in December, with the government and service sectors doing the bulk of the hiring.
In terms of the full year, employers added 1.3 million jobs and the unemployment
rate averaged 4.6 percent in 2007. Employment growth averaged 111,000 a month in 2007, down
from 189,000 a month in 2006 (when the economy added some 2.3 million jobs).
