Transmission of material in this statement is embargoed until 

8:30 a.m. (ET) Friday, January 7, 2022. 

Statement of 

William W. Beach 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, January 7, 2022

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 199,000 in December, and 

the unemployment rate declined by 0.3 percentage point to 3.9 

percent. Employment continued to trend up in leisure and 

hospitality, in professional and business services, in 

manufacturing, in construction, and in transportation and 

warehousing. 

In 2021, job growth averaged 537,000 per month. Employment 

has increased by 18.8 million since April 2020 but is down by 

3.6 million, or 2.3 percent, from its level before the onset of 

the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in February 2020. 

Employment in leisure and hospitality continued to trend up 

in December (+53,000). The industry has added 2.6 million jobs 

in 2021, accounting for 4 in 10 total nonfarm payroll jobs added 

over the year. Since February 2020, employment in leisure and 

hospitality is down by 1.2 million, or 7.2 percent. Employment 
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in food services and drinking places rose by 43,000 in December 

but is down by 653,000 since February 2020. 

Employment in professional and business services continued 

its upward trend in December (+43,000) but is slightly below 

(-35,000) its February 2020 level. Within the industry, 

employment in the professional and technical services component 

rose by 37,000 over the month and is 412,000 higher than in 

February 2020. (Professional and technical services includes 

industries such as computer systems design and related services, 

architectural and engineering services, and scientific research 

and development services.) Employment in the administrative and 

waste services component (which includes temporary help 

services) was about unchanged in December (+4,000) and is 

374,000 lower than in February 2020. 

In December, manufacturing added 26,000 jobs, largely in 

durable goods industries. A job gain of 8,000 in machinery 

reflected a return of workers from a strike. Employment in 

manufacturing is 219,000 lower than in February 2020. 

Construction employment increased by 22,000 in December, 

with job gains in nonresidential specialty trade contractors 

(+13,000) and in heavy and civil engineering construction 

(+10,000). Construction employment is down by 88,000 since 

February 2020. 
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Transportation and warehousing added 19,000 jobs in 

December. Job gains occurred in support activities for 

transportation (+7,000), in air transportation (+6,000), and in 

warehousing and storage (+5,000). Employment in couriers and 

messengers was essentially unchanged. Since February 2020, 

employment in transportation and warehousing is up by 218,000, 

led by growth in couriers and messengers (+202,000) and in 

warehousing and storage (+181,000). 

In December, employment in wholesale trade grew by 14,000 

but is down by 129,000 since February 2020. 

Employment in mining increased by 7,000 in December but is 

down by 81,000 from a peak in January 2019. 

In December, employment showed little or no change in other 

major industries, including retail trade, information, financial 

activities, health care, other services, and government. 

In December, the average workweek for all private-sector 

workers was unchanged at 34.7 hours. The average workweek for 

manufacturing edged down by 0.1 hour to 40.3 hours. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls increased by 19 cents to $31.31 in December. Over the 

past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 4.7 

percent. 

Turning to the labor market indicators from the household 

survey, the unemployment rate declined by 0.3 percentage point 
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to 3.9 percent in December, and the number of unemployed people 

fell by 483,000 to 6.3 million. Over the year, the unemployment 

rate is down by 2.8 percentage points, and the number of 

unemployed people is down by 4.5 million. In February 2020, the 

unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, and there were 5.7 million 

people unemployed. 

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for 

adult men (3.6 percent), adult women (3.6 percent), and Whites 

(3.2 percent) declined in December. The jobless rates for 

teenagers (10.9 percent), Blacks (7.1 percent), Asians (3.8 

percent), and Hispanics (4.9 percent) showed little or no change 

over the month. 

Among the unemployed, the number of permanent job losers 

declined by 202,000 to 1.7 million in December and is down by 

1.8 million from a year earlier. However, this measure is above 

its February 2020 level of 1.3 million. The number of job 

leavers declined by 113,000 in December to 724,000 but is little 

different from a year earlier. The number of people on temporary 

layoff was little changed over the month at 812,000 and is down 

by 2.3 million over the year. This measure has essentially 

returned to its February 2020 level of 780,000. 

The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more (often 

referred to as the long-term unemployed) declined by 185,000 to 

2.0 million in December. This measure is down from 4.0 million a 
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year earlier but is 887,000 above its February 2020 level. In 

December, the long-term unemployed accounted for 31.7 percent of 

the unemployed. 

The labor force participation rate was unchanged at 61.9 

percent in December and is up by 0.4 percentage point over the 

year. The employment-population ratio increased by 0.2 

percentage point over the month to 59.5 percent and is up by 2.1 

percentage points over the year. However, both measures are 

below their February 2020 levels (by 1.5 percentage points and 

1.7 percentage points, respectively). 

In December, the number of people working part time for 

economic reasons decreased by 337,000 to 3.9 million, reflecting 

a decline in the number of people whose hours were cut due to 

slack work or business conditions. The number of people working 

part time for economic reasons has fallen by 2.2 million over 

the year and is 461,000 lower than in February 2020. 

The number of people not in the labor force who currently 

want a job was little changed at 5.7 million in December but is 

down by 1.6 million over the year. This measure remains above 

its February 2020 level of 5.0 million. 

Among those who were not in the labor force but wanted a 

job, 1.6 million were marginally attached to the labor force in 

December, essentially unchanged from November. (People who are 

marginally attached to the labor force had not actively looked 
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for work in the 4 weeks prior to the survey but wanted a job, 

were available for work, and had looked for a job within the 

last 12 months.) The number of discouraged workers, a subset of 

the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available 

for them, was also essentially unchanged over the month at 

463,000. 

As in previous months, some workers affected by the 

pandemic who should have been classified as unemployed on 

temporary layoff in December were instead misclassified as 

employed but not at work. The degree of misclassification was 

highest in the early months of the pandemic and has been 

considerably lower in recent months. Since March 2020, BLS has 

published an upper-bound estimate of what the unemployment rate 

might have been had misclassified workers been included among 

the unemployed. The unemployment rates for October 2021 through 

December 2021 would have been 0.1 percentage point higher than 

reported. 

For each month from March 2020 to December 2021, BLS has 

published a summary of the impact of the pandemic on The 

Employment Situation news release and data. The impact summary 

for December is available at www.bls.gov/covid19/employmentsituation-covid19-faq-december-2021.htm. Beginning with the 

publication of January 2022 data in February 2022, this monthspecific impact summary will be discontinued. However, 
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information about the impact of the pandemic, including how to 

replicate the misclassification calculation, will continue to be 

available at www.bls.gov/covid19/effects-of-covid-19-pandemicand-response-on-the-employment-situation-news-release.htm. 

Looking at supplemental pandemic-related measures from the 

household survey (these supplemental data are not seasonally 

adjusted), the share of employed people who teleworked because 

of the pandemic was 11.1 percent in December, little changed 

from November. These data refer only to employed people who 

teleworked or worked from home for pay at some point in the last 

4 weeks specifically because of the pandemic; they do not 

include all instances of telework. 

In December, the number of people who reported that they 

had been unable to work because their employer closed or lost 

business due to the pandemic--that is, they did not work at all 

or worked fewer hours at some point in the last 4 weeks due to 

the pandemic--declined by 539,000 in December to 3.1 million. 

Among those who reported in December that they were unable to 

work because of pandemic-related closures or lost business, 15.9 

percent received at least some pay from their employer for the 

hours not worked, little different than the prior month. 

Among those not in the labor force in December, 1.1 million 

people were prevented from looking for work due to the pandemic, 

little changed from November. (To be counted as unemployed, by 
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definition, individuals must either be actively searching for 

work or on temporary layoff.) 

Following our regular annual practice, seasonal adjustment 

factors for the household survey data have been updated with the 

release of December data. Seasonally adjusted estimates going 

back 5 years--to January 2017--were subject to revision. 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 199,000 

in December, and the unemployment rate declined to 3.9 percent.