December 2024 Employment Situation

Historical release narrative reproduced from the official public-domain source. Statistical tables, standard technical appendices, administrative material and attendance rosters are omitted; formatting is adapted for reading. Figures retain the release's historical context and may have been revised. Consult the linked source for the complete document.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 256,000 in December, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment trended up in health care, government, and social assistance. Retail trade added jobs in December, following a job loss in November.

This news release presents statistics from two monthly surveys. The household survey measures labor force status, including unemployment, by demographic characteristics. The establishment survey measures nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings by industry. For more information about the concepts and statistical methodology used in these two surveys, see the Technical Note.

Household Survey Data

The unemployment rate changed little at 4.1 percent in December. After increasing earlier in the year, the unemployment rate has been either 4.1 percent or 4.2 percent for the past 7 months. The number of unemployed people, at 6.9 million, also changed little in December. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for Whites (3.6 percent) edged down in December. The jobless rates for adult men (3.7 percent), adult women (3.8 percent), teenagers (12.4 percent), Blacks (6.1 percent), Asians (3.5 percent), and Hispanics (5.1 percent) changed little over the month. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

Among the unemployed, the number of permanent job losers declined by 164,000 to 1.7 million in December but is little different from a year earlier. The number of people on temporary layoff, at 862,000, changed little over the month and over the year. (See table A-11.)

In December, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) changed little at 1.6 million but is up by 278,000 from a year earlier. The long-term unemployed accounted for 22.4 percent of all unemployed people in December. (See table A-12.)

The labor force participation rate, at 62.5 percent, was unchanged over the month and has remained in a narrow range of 62.5 percent to 62.7 percent since December 2023. The employment-population ratio, at 60.0 percent, changed little over the month and over the year. (See table A-1.)

The number of people employed part time for economic reasons, at 4.4 million, changed little in December and is little different from a year earlier. These individuals would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs. (See table A-8.)

The number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job, at 5.5 million, was essentially unchanged in December. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job. (See table A-1.)

Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of people marginally attached to the labor force, at 1.6 million, was virtually unchanged in December. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months but had not looked for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for them, changed little at 480,000 in December. (See Summary table A.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 256,000 in December. Employment trended up in health care, government, and social assistance. Retail trade added jobs in December, following a job loss in November. Payroll employment rose by 2.2 million in 2024 (an average monthly gain of 186,000), less than the increase of 3.0 million in 2023 (an average monthly gain of 251,000). (See table B-1.)

Health care added 46,000 jobs in December, with gains in home health care services (+15,000), nursing and residential care facilities (+14,000), and hospitals (+12,000). Health care added an average of 57,000 jobs per month in 2024, the same as the average monthly gain in 2023.

Retail trade added 43,000 jobs in December, following a loss of 29,000 jobs in November. In December, employment increased in clothing, clothing accessories, shoe, and jewelry retailers (+23,000); general merchandise retailers (+13,000); and health and personal care retailers (+7,000). Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers lost jobs (-11,000). Overall, employment in retail trade changed little in 2024, following an average monthly increase of 10,000 in 2023.

Government employment continued to trend up in December (+33,000). Government added an average of 37,000 jobs per month in 2024, below the average monthly gain of 59,000 in 2023. Over the month, employment continued to trend up in state government (+10,000).

Employment in social assistance increased by 23,000 in December, mostly in individual and family services (+17,000). Social assistance added an average of 18,000 jobs per month in 2024, below the average increase of 23,000 per month in 2023.

Employment in leisure and hospitality changed little in December (+43,000). Leisure and hospitality added an average of 24,000 jobs per month in 2024, about half the average monthly gain of 47,000 in 2023.

Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; construction; manufacturing; wholesale trade; transportation and warehousing; information; financial activities; professional and business services; and other services.

In December, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 10 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $35.69. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.9 percent. In December, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees, at $30.62, were little changed (+6 cents). (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

In December, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was 34.3 hours for the fifth month in a row. In manufacturing, the average workweek was little changed at 40.0 hours, and overtime edged down by 0.1 hour to 2.8 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls remained at 33.7 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised up by 7,000, from +36,000 to +43,000, and the change for November was revised down by 15,000, from +227,000 to +212,000. With these revisions, employment in October and November combined is 8,000 lower than previously reported. (Monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors.)

Revision of Seasonally Adjusted Household Survey Data

At the end of each calendar year, BLS updates the seasonal adjustment factors for the national labor force series derived from the household survey. As a result of this process, seasonally adjusted data for January 2020 through November 2024 were subject to revision. (Not seasonally adjusted data were not subject to revision.)

More information on this year’s revisions to seasonally adjusted household series is available at www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cps-seas-adjustment-methodology.pdf. Detailed information on the seasonal adjustment methodology is found at www.bls.gov/cps/seasonal-adjustment-methodology.htm.

Historical data for the household series contained in the A tables (A-1 through A-16) of this news release can be accessed at www.bls.gov/cps/cpsatabs.htm. Revised historical seasonally adjusted data are available at www.bls.gov/cps/data.htm and https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/ln.

Month As First Published As Revised Change