The Employment Situation: December 2004 — 2005-01-07

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 157,000 in December, and the unem- ployment rate was unchanged at 5.4 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Job growth continued in sev- eral service-providing industries. Both the number of unemployed persons, 8.0 million, and the unemployment rate, 5.4 percent, were unchanged in December. The jobless rate has been either 5.4 or 5.5 percent in each month since July, slightly below the rates that prevailed in the first half of 2004. In December, the unemployment rates for the major worker groups--adult men (4.9 percent), adult women (4.7 percent), teenagers (17.6 percent), whites (4.6 percent), blacks (10.8 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (6.6 percent)-- showed little or no change over the month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 4.1 percent in December, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.) The number of long-term unemployed--those unemployed 27 weeks and over--was about unchanged over the month.