Unemployment drops again
A fair miss on hiring in December, with U.S. nonfarm payrolls coming in at +199,000, against +400,000 expected.
Revisions to the October and November figures added back a further +141,000, however.
And still, the unemployment rate dropped sharply again, now down to just 3.9 per cent and approaching the pre-pandemic lows.
Just as an aside: what a remarkable recovery that's been, from nearly 15 per cent unemployment in April 2020!
Average earnings growth was also solid, up +0.6 per cent for the month in December, and +4.7 per cent for the year.
The Federal Reserve is now 90 per cent likely to be hiking interest rates by its March FOMC Meeting.
Don't fight the Fed, right? :-)
