The economy posted an additional 223,000 new jobs in December 2022, showing a strong jobs market as unemployment fell to 3.5% at years end. Wage growth dropped slightly from expected, signaling that inflation could be waning, news that caused stock market futures to rebound. From the linked report:
"Payroll growth decelerated in December but was still better than expected, a sign that the labor market remains strong even as the Federal Reserve tries to slow economic growth.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 223,000 for the month, above the Dow Jones estimate for 200,000, while the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, 0.2 percentage point below the expectation. The job growth marked a small decrease from the 256,000 gain in November, which was revised down 7,000 from the initial estimate."
Gross Domestic Product also grew at a good rate of 3.8%. The Federal Reserve Bank is still expected to raise the prime rate another quarter of a point at the end of the month to bring inflation down, which may restrict private sector wage increases in the coming months.
