US employers add modest 148,000 jobs; unemployment 4.1 per cent

WASHINGTON: US employers added 148,000 jobs in December, a modest gain but still enough to suggest that the economy entered the new year with solid momentum.

The unemployment rate remained 4.1 percent for a third straight month, the lowest level since 2000, the Labor Department said today.

For all of 2017, employers added nearly 2.1 million jobs, enough to lower the unemployment rate from 4.7 percent a year ago.

Still, the data indicates that job gains are slowing, which typically happens when unemployment falls to ultra-low levels and fewer people are available to be hired.

Average job gains have declined to 171,000 this year from a peak of 250,000 in 2014. Last year's job gains were the fewest since 2010.

Despite the low unemployment and the difficulty some employers face in finding enough qualified workers, pay gains remain sluggish. Average hourly earnings rose 2.5 per cent in December from a year earlier about a full percentage point lower than is typical in a healthy economy.

Still, the December job growth, while modest, underscores the economy's continued health in its ninth year of recovery.

Last month's pace of hiring is enough, over time, to lower the unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate for African-Americans reached a record low of 6.8 per cent in December. And the jobless rate for veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq fell to 3.3 percent, also a record low.

Solid economic growth in both the United States and major countries overseas is supporting more hiring. Factory managers received the most new orders in December than in any month since 2004. Retailers have reported strong holiday sales.

Builders are ramping up home construction to meet growing demand.