The unemployment rate remained stable in December for the third consecutive month and stood at 4.1%, the lowest level since 2000, although that of Hispanics increased one tenth to 4.9%, the Government reported today. .
This unemployment data suggests that the US economy is stabilizing in full employment quotas, thanks to the growing demand in the real estate sector, the rebound of capital investment and the improvement of global demand for the country’s goods.
However, the 148,000 new jobs created in the last month of the year represent a decrease in relation to the month of November, when 228,000 jobs were created, according to data released today by the Department of Labor.
This data of job creation is also lower than the expectations of the experts, who anticipated a figure of 190,000.
During the year 2017, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons decreased by 0.6 percentage points and 926,000, respectively.
In the first year of the presidency of Donald Trump, the economy added 2.1 million jobs and reversed the loss of jobs in critical sectors, especially in the manufacturing industry, a key priority for this Administration.
“The benefits of low rates were felt in general, which resulted in unemployment reaching historic lows in 2017 for veterans, African-Americans and Hispanics,” the Council of Economic Advisers said in a message posted on the website of the White House.
The same agency said that the Trump government will continue to support the workers of the United States with “fewer regulations, more jobs and higher salaries.”
The president himself expressed his joy at the early morning by the new record reached on Thursday the Dow Jones indicator, which reached 25,000 points for the first time.
“It’s all about the Make America Great Again agenda, jobs, jobs, jobs, they created six trillion dollars in value!” The president elated.
Among other details of the report released today, the labor force participation rate remained unchanged at 62.7% in December, which is close to the lowest level since the 1970s.
In total, the number of people without work in US territory continued around 6.6 million people, a figure that almost did not change compared to the previous month.
Among Hispanics, the unemployment rate rose by one percentage point to 4.9%, a change that is mainly due to the decline in employment among Latina women.
As for the average hourly wage, it grew slightly, by 0.3%, and stood at $ 26.63 in December.
In the accumulated of the last twelve months, wages have increased by 2.5% and the average number of hours worked per week remained at 34.5 hours.
By sectors, medical care, with 31,000 new jobs; the construction, with 30,000, and the manufacturing industry, with 25,000, showed important advances.
However, the retail sector cut 20,300 jobs in the middle of the holiday shopping season.
On the other hand, the number of people without work for 27 weeks or more, the so-called long-term unemployed, fell as a percentage of all unemployed to 22.9 percent, from 23.9% the previous month.
