U.S. Unemployment Rate Plummets to 3.5% in December

• The 3.5% rate reported in the official report was lower than expected (3.7%).
• The data revealed that median hourly wages increased by 0.30 percent last month.

The U.S. jobless rate reportedly hit a 50-year low of 3.5% in December. Predictions anticipated it maintaining its pre-recession high of 3.7%, so this is a decrease from that. But, hiring slowed quite a little as the year came to a close.

Even if the job outlook is bright according to these year-end notes, many are nonetheless worried about a slowdown in 2023. After a year of interest rate rises by the Federal Reserve, worries of a recession have emerged.

The United States Department of Labor reported today that unemployment was lower than projected in December 2022. The 3.5% rate reported in the official report was lower than expected (3.7%).

Recession Looming Over

The report also found that the pace of employment had slowed in December, with 223,000 new positions being created. In line with this, November saw an increase in employment of 256,000 people. However, the December report is in line with predictions made by polled economists quoted by USA Today, who together predicted a 200,000 increase in payroll positions in the previous month.

In addition, the data revealed that median hourly wages increased by 0.30 percent last month. It’s down from 0.4%, and it’s lower than what was predicted, which had called for it to stay around the same. Comparing 2022 to the previous year reveals, however, that the economy still advanced.

Compared to December’s figures, the United States added 4.5 million jobs in 2022. In addition, by the end of August, it was said that all 22 million jobs lost due to the health crisis had been restored.