December Jobs Report: Job Creation, Wage Growth, And Manufacturing Slowed

The December jobs report released today shows a string of Trump’s broken promises. He promised to bring back manufacturing jobs, boost job creation, and raise wages. Instead, all three slowed over the last year.

JOB CREATION SLOWED: The economy added fewer jobs than expected in December, finishing out the slowest year of job creation since 2011.

CNBC: “The U.S. jobs market ended 2019 on a sour note, with December’s payroll and wage growth missing expectations, according to Labor Department figures released Friday. Nonfarm payrolls increased by just 145,000 while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.5%. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for job growth of 160,000.”

CNBC: “For the year, payrolls increased by 2.1 million, an average of 176,000 a month, the slowest year for job creation since 2011 — three years after the start of the financial crisis — and down considerably from the 2.7 million positions added in 2018.”

WAGE GROWTH SLOWED: Wages barely budged last month, and wage growth has slowed significantly over the past year to below 3%.

Washington Post: “Average hourly earnings rose by a mere 0.1 percent in December, meaning over the past year, wage growth is at 2.9 percent. Economists say wages are not growing as fast as they should be, especially for those who aren’t seeing a boost from state and local minimum wage increases.”

CNBC: “In addition to the slow payroll growth, average hourly earnings rose by just 2.9%, below the 3.1% projection. December marked the first time that wage gains were below 3% on a year-over-year basis since July 2018.”

MANUFACTURING SLOWED: The manufacturing sector lost thousands of jobs last month, capping a year of slowing factory job growth.

NPR: “Factories lost 12,000 jobs last month. The manufacturing sector has been hard hit by the trade war as well as slowing demand overseas. An index of manufacturing activity fell in December to its lowest level in more than a decade.”

CNBC: “It was a difficult year for manufacturing jobs: The sector saw a net gain of just 46,000 compared with a 264,000 gain the year before.”