US Nonfarm employment falls by 85,000 in December. Unemployment rate steady.

By CountingPips.com

U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls employment data released today showed that jobs fell in the month of December unexpectedly while the November’s jobs data was revised to show the first monthly gain in almost two years. The Department of Labor nonfarm payrolls report showed that employment fell by 85,000 workers in December to total of 15.3 million unemployed workers. Despite the decline, the unemployment rate remained steady at 10 percent for the second month in a row after reaching a 26-year high in October. Today’s employment data was worse than expected as market forecasts were predicting no change in the jobs numbers.

The November jobs report was revised from the original estimate of a decline by 11,000 workers to an increase of 4,000 jobs for the month and marked the first month of job gains since December of 2007.

December’s report showed that in the two years since the recession began in December 2007, the number of unemployed workers has just about doubled and the unemployment rate has increased from 5.0 percent to 10 percent. The employment decline in 2009 reached to a total of 4.2 million jobs lost.

The goods-producing sector was the hardest hit by job losses for the month as this sector lost 81,000 total jobs with the manufacturing sector cutting 27,000 jobs and the construction sector losing 53,000 jobs.

The service-providing sector shed just 4,000 total workers in December. The professional & business services sector created 50,000 jobs, the education & health services sector added 35,000 workers while retail trade lost 10,000 jobs and leisure and hospitality cut 25,000 workers. Government hiring declined by 21,000 workers in December.