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| The US economy is not expected to enter a recession in 2024. (Source: Getty) |
Meanwhile, wage growth has been strong, helping to reinforce expectations that the world's No. 1 economy will continue to grow in 2024.
The ministry's report showed that the non- agricultural sector added 216,000 jobs in December 2023, much higher than the 170,000 jobs previously forecast by economists.
November's data was also revised down to 173,000 jobs added instead of 199,000 as previously reported. For all of 2023, the US economy added 2.7 million jobs, down sharply from the 4.8 million jobs created in 2022.
The unemployment rate remained unchanged from November 2023 at 3.7%. However, despite the expanding labor force, wage growth remained strong. Average hourly earnings for U.S. workers rose 0.4% in December 2023, after rising 0.4% in the previous month.
Wages rose 4.1% year-on-year in December 2023, up from 4.0% in November.
The report also showed that job growth in recent months has been largely concentrated in a few sectors, such as leisure, hospitality and health care. State and local government hiring to restore the education workforce to pre-pandemic levels has also boosted job growth.
Some economists say this suggests the labor market is not as strong as the numbers suggest. However, most economists do not expect a recession in 2024 as the resilience of the labor market supports consumer spending.
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