Investing.com - Nonfarm payrolls (NFP) rose by 312,000 in December, according to official data released on Friday.
The data was compared to the consensus estimate for the creation of 178,000 jobs and the 271,000 positions that the ADP report indicated on Thursday.
The previous month’s reading of NFP was revised up to 176,000 from the 155,000 registered initially.
The jobless rate unexpectedly rose to 3.9%. Analysts had expected it to remain unchanged at 3.7%.
Average hourly earnings advanced 0.4% month-on-month in December, compared to forecasts for a 0.3% rise.
That was higher than the previous increase of 0.2%.
On an annualized basis, wage inflation grew 3.2% in December, compared to consensus expectations of a 3.0% increase. Average hourly earnings had gained 3.1% the previous month.
The increase in wages is being closely monitored by the Federal Reserve for evidence of diminishing slack in the labor market and upward pressure on inflation. Economists generally consider an increase of 3.0% or more to be consistent with rising inflation.
Average weekly hours clocked in at 34.5 last month. That was in line with the forecast and higher than the 34.4 seen in November.
Additionally, the private sector created more new job contracts than expected in December with a total of 301,000.
Analysts had forecast the creation of just 175,000 new private sector jobs.
November saw an increase of 173,000 private nonfarm payrolls, revised up from the prior reading of 161,000 jobs in the private sector.
Government payrolls increased by 11,000 last month, compared to the prior creation of 3,000 public positions.
November’s data on government payrolls was an upward revision from the initial decline of 6,000 public positions.
The participation rate rose to 63.1% last month, from November’s reading of 62.9%. That was its highest level since 2014.
The U-6 unemployment rate, that includes those workers who are working part-time for purely economic reasons, held steady at 7.6% in December.