Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press 

under lock-up conditions with the explicit understanding that 

the data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. 

Statement of 

Erica L. Groshen 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, January 9, 2015

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 252,000 in December, and 

the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 5.6 

percent. Job gains occurred in professional and business 

services, construction, food services and drinking places, 

health care, and manufacturing. 

Incorporating revisions for October and November, which 

increased total nonfarm payroll employment by 50,000, monthly 

job increases have averaged 289,000 over the past 3 months. In 

2014, job growth averaged 246,000 per month, compared with 

194,000 per month in 2013. 

Professional and business services employment rose by 

52,000 in December, including job gains in administrative and 

waste services (+35,000), computer systems design and related 

services (+9,000), and architectural and engineering services 

(+5,000). Employment in accounting and bookkeeping services 
2 

declined (-14,000), offsetting an increase of the same amount in 

November. In 2014, employment in professional and business 

services increased by 732,000. 

Construction added 48,000 jobs in December, well above the 

employment gains in recent months. In December, specialty trade 

contractors added jobs (+26,000), with the gain about equally 

split between residential and nonresidential contractors. 

Employment also increased in heavy and civil engineering 

construction (+12,000) and nonresidential building (+10,000). 

Over the month, employment in food services and drinking 

places rose by 44,000. In 2014, food services added 361,000 

jobs, about in line with job gains in the industry in 2013. 

Health care added 34,000 jobs in December. Employment rose 

in ambulatory health care services (+16,000), nursing and 

residential care facilities (+11,000), and hospitals (+7,000). 

Employment growth in health care picked up in 2014 with 311,000 

jobs added during the year, compared with 204,000 in 2013. 

Manufacturing employment rose by 17,000 in December, mostly 

in durable goods (+13,000). Manufacturing added 186,000 jobs in 

2014, up from a gain of 88,000 in 2013. 

In December, employment in wholesale trade and financial 

activities continued to trend up. 
3 

Employment in retail trade changed little over the month, 

following a large gain in November. Retail employment grew by 

250,000 in 2014. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls fell by 5 cents to $24.57 in December, following an 

increase of 6 cents in November. Over the past 12 months, 

average hourly earnings have risen by 1.7 percent. From November 

2013 to November 2014, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban 

Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 1.3 percent. 

Turning to the survey of households, the unemployment rate 

declined by 0.2 percentage point in December to 5.6 percent, and 

the number of unemployed persons fell by 383,000 to 8.7 million. 

In 2014, the unemployment rate declined by 1.1 percentage 

points, and the number of unemployed decreased by 1.7 million. 

Almost two-thirds of the decline in the level of unemployment in 

2014 occurred among the long-term unemployed (those jobless for 

27 weeks or longer). 

The labor force participation rate edged down in December 

to 62.7 percent. The participation rate has remained in a narrow 

range of 62.7 to 62.9 percent since April 2014. In December, the 

employment-population ratio was 59.2 percent for the third 

consecutive month. However, the employment-population ratio was 

up by 0.6 percentage point over the year. 
4 

The number of people working part time for economic 

reasons, at 6.8 million, changed little over the month. (These 

individuals, also referred to as involuntary part-time workers, 

would have preferred full-time employment but had their hours 

cut back or were unable to find full-time work.) 

Among people who were neither working nor looking for work 

in December, 2.3 million were classified as marginally attached 

to the labor force, little changed over the year. (These 

individuals had not looked 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 740,000 in December, down 

by 177,000 from a year ago. 

Following our regular annual practice, seasonal adjustment 

factors for the household survey data have been updated in this 

news release. Seasonally adjusted estimates going back 5 years--

to January 2010--were subject to revision. 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 252,000 

in December, and the unemployment rate declined to 5.6 percent.