WASHINGTON—The U.S. posted its strongest year of job growth in 15 years and the unemployment rate fell to a postrecession low last month, evidence of momentum for the labor market marred by softer wages and a rise in workforce dropouts.
Nonfarm payrolls rose a seasonally adjusted 252,000 in December, the Labor Department said Friday, with broad-based gains across a wide array of sectors.
The unemployment rate, which is obtained from a separate survey of U.S. households, was 5.6% in December, down two-tenths of a percentage point from the prior month and now at its lowest level since June 2008. However, the decrease was driven in part because people stopped looking for a job.
“Today’s job’s report—again—was very strong and shows the labor market is maturing and economy performing soundly,” said Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist at the National Retail Federation. “However, the earnings data was a bit disappointing.”
Stagnant wages have limited household budgets and been a check on consumer spending. Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers fell 5 cents to $24.57 in December. The average workweek held steady at 34.6 hours in December.
Over the past year, hourly earnings are up a mere 1.7%, barely ahead of inflation’s 1.3% rate.
“The simple fact is we cannot consider an employment report a success, no matter how healthy the headline may be, if wage data does not begin to accelerate,” Dan Greenhaus, chief strategist at BTIG, said in a note to clients.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-adds-252-000-jobs-unemployment-falls-to-5-6-1420810489HoweverAnother month, another attempt by the BLS to mask the collapse in the US labor force with a goalseeked seasonally-adjusted surge in waiter, bartender and other low-paying jobs. Case in point: after a modest rebound by 0.1% in November, the labor participation rate just slid once more, dropping to 62.7%, or the lowest print since December 1977. This happened because the number of Americans not in the labor forced soared by 451,000 in December, far outpacing the 111,000 jobs added according to the Household Survey, and is the primary reason why the number of uenmployed Americans dropped by 383,000.
More...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-09/labor-participation-rate-drops-fresh-38-year-low-record-929-million-americans-not-laThere's a side by side comparison of the propaganda vs the facts when it comes to reporting on the job market.
