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 8, 2016

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 292,000 in 

December, and the unemployment rate held at 5.0 percent. Job 

growth occurred in several industries, led by professional and 

business services, construction, health care, and food services 

and drinking places. Mining employment continued to decline. 

Incorporating revisions for October and November, which 

increased nonfarm payroll employment by 50,000, monthly job 

gains have averaged 284,000 over the past 3 months. In 2015, job 

growth averaged 221,000 per month, compared with an average of 

260,000 per month in 2014. 

Professional and business services added 73,000 jobs in 

December. Much of the gain occurred in temporary help services 

(+34,000). In 2015, employment in professional and business 

services increased by an average of 50,000 per month, compared 

with an average of 59,000 in 2014. 
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Construction showed strong job growth for the third 

consecutive month, gaining 45,000 jobs in December. Employment 

rose among specialty trade contractors (+29,000) and in 

construction of buildings (+10,000). Over the year, construction 

added 263,000 jobs, compared with a gain of 338,000 jobs in 

2014. 

Health care also continued to add jobs in December 

(+39,000), with gains in ambulatory care services (+23,000) and 

hospitals (+12,000). In 2015, monthly job gains in health care 

averaged 40,000, compared with an average of 26,000 in the 

previous year. 

Employment in food services and drinking places increased 

by 37,000 in December. Over the year, the industry added 357,000 

jobs. 

Within information, motion picture and sound recording 

industries added 15,000 jobs in December, offsetting a decline 

in the previous month. In the transportation and warehousing 

industry, employment rose among couriers and messengers 

(+15,000). 

Manufacturing employment changed little in December. In 

2015, factory employment overall was little changed (+30,000), 

following strong growth in 2014 (+215,000). 

Retail trade employment also changed little in December, 

following job gains in the previous 2 months. In December, job 
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gains occurred in miscellaneous store retailers (+9,000), 

building material and garden supply stores (+9,000), and 

automobile dealers (+8,000). Employment in clothing and clothing 

accessories stores fell by 18,000 over the month. In 2015, 

retail trade added 274,000 jobs. 

Mining continued to lose jobs in December (-8,000). 

Employment in the industry declined by 129,000 in 2015. During 

the past year, mining lost about half of the jobs that were 

added in the prior 5 years. Most of these gains and losses were 

in support activities for mining. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls were little changed in December (-1 cent) at $25.24, 

following a 5-cent increase in November. Over the past 12 

months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.5 percent. From 

November 2014 to November 2015, the Consumer Price Index for all 

Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was up by 0.4 percentage point (on a 

seasonally adjusted basis). 

Turning to data from the household survey, the unemployment 

rate in December was 5.0 percent for the third month in a row. 

The number of unemployed, at 7.9 million in December, was 

essentially unchanged. Over the year, both the jobless rate and 

the number of unemployed were down, by 0.6 percentage point and 

800,000, respectively. In December, 2.1 million of the 
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unemployed, or 26.3 percent, had been jobless for 27 weeks or 

more. 

The labor force participation rate, at 62.6 percent, was 

little changed in December and has shown little movement in 

recent months. The employment-population ratio, at 59.5 percent, 

also changed little over the month. 

Among the employed, the number working part time for 

economic reasons, also referred to as involuntary part-time 

workers, was little changed in December, at 6.0 million. The 

number of these workers was down by 764,000 over the year. 

(Involuntary part-time workers are those who would have 

preferred full-time employment but were working part time 

because their hours had been cut back or because they were 

unable to find full-time work.) 

Among people who were neither working nor looking for work 

in December, 1.8 million were classified as marginally attached 

to the labor force, down from 2.3 million a year earlier. The 

number of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally 

attached who believed that no jobs were available for them, was 

663,000 in December, little different from a year earlier. (The 

marginally attached are individuals who 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.) 
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In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 292,000 

in December, and the unemployment rate held at 5.0 percent.