A report by The Los Angeles Times states that while the job growth rates in the U.S. over the last few months have been slow, they have managed to maintain a stable number.
According to the report, the U.S. added the same number of jobs in the month of December, 2012 as it did in November, 2012. While employment growth has been slow, it has been stable which comes as a bit of a relief for the US government.
The Labor Department issued a report Friday stating that while unemployment rate was 7.8 percent, nonfarm employment rose to 155,000 in December, 2012.
"This morning's jobs report was status quo," said economist Heidi Shierholz, who works at the Economic Policy Institute, an independent, nonprofit think tank that researches economic trends and policies on working people. "The labor market added 155,000 jobs, right in line with the 153,000 average of the first 11 months of the year," she said.
"The problem, of course, is that a status quo report in today's labor market represents an ongoing jobs crisis," Shierholz said. "The jobs deficit - the number of jobs lost since the recession officially began five years ago, plus the number of jobs we should have added just to keep up with the normal growth in the potential labor force - remains nearly nine million. At December's growth rate the labor market will not fill in that gap until the end of 2021."
The total number of unemployed people remains at 12.2 million. Unemployment rate has been revolving in and around 7.8 percent since September, 2012. The US government said that job availability was stronger in November, 2012.
"It's hard to get too excited about a jobs report that comes in exactly on expectations, and almost right on the average pace of job growth over the last two years," said James Marple, senior economist at TD Bank Group. "Nonetheless, given the challenges facing the economy - heightened fiscal uncertainty and struggling global growth - a gain of 155,000 jobs should be viewed positively."
