US added 50K jobs in December as hiring slowed

The U.S. added 50,000 jobs and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.4 percent in December, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department.

Economists expected the December jobs report to show a gain of roughly 55,000 jobs and the jobless rate to tick down to 4.5 percent, according to consensus estimates.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said both employment and the jobless rate “changed little” in December.

BLS also shaved 76,000 jobs off from the October and November reports, boosting the total October job loss to 173,000 from 105,000, and cutting the November job gain from 64,000 to 56,000.

The report caps off a year of rising economic pressure on President Trump and Republicans, who have faced growing backlash over stubborn inflation and slowing job gains.

The U.S. has added fewer than 50,000 job on average each month since January 2025, and unemployment is up 0.4 percentage points from its level when Trump took office.

At the same time, the annual inflation rate has lingered near 2.6 percent, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), its level when Trump was elected in November 2024 on the promise to bring prices down.

While other measures of economic health — such as gross domestic product and productivity — have accelerated, the sluggish labor market and steady price growth have raised fears of a broader slowdown.

“At this point, we have to be concerned about the strength of the labor market. Total job creation at less than 0.5% is extremely rare in recent history outside of recessions or the jobless recovery of the early 2000’s. This far into an economic expansion, it’s essentially unheard of,” wrote Michael Linden, senior policy fellow at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a left-leaning non-profit.

“Combined with the persistent concerns over cost-of-living, a weak labor market could tip the economy into a contraction.”