The US economy added 199,000 jobs in December, lower than gains in all other months in 2021, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The overall unemployment rate continued its steady decrease, however, dropping 0.3 percentage points to 3.9% for the month. The number of unemployed people fell by 483,000 to 6.3 million. The Census Bureau’s December Household Survey data shows 3.1 million people were “unable to work due to their employer closing or losing business due to the pandemic.” That’s about 500,000 fewer than in November.
