The pace of hiring by US employers eased off slightly in December as the recovery continues to struggle to build momentum, latest figures showed yesterday.
The number of jobs outside the farming sector grew 155,000 last month, in line with analysts’ expectations and slightly below the level for November.
Gains in employment were distributed broadly throughout the economy, from manufacturing and construction to health care.
The payroll figures from the US government should reinforce expectations that the economy there will grow about 2 per cent this year, unlikely quickly to bring down the unemployment rate or make the Federal Reserve rethink its fiscal stimulus policies which have been propping up the recovery.
Although the December figures showed a slowdown, Marcus Bullus, trading director at stockbrokers MB Capital, said the US economy was still moving in the right direction but that the Fed “can’t afford to be complacent”.
The jobless rate held steady at 7.8 per cent in December, down nearly a percentage point from a year earlier but still well above the average rate over the last 60 years of about 6 per cent. Despite continued growth in hiring, a wave of government spending cuts due to begin in March – hitting sectors including the military – looms over the US economy.