Transmission of material in this statement is embargoed until 

8:30 a.m. (ET) January 6, 2023.

Statement of

William W. Beach

Commissioner

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Friday, January 6, 2023

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 223,000 in December, 

and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.5 percent. Notable job 

gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, health care, 

construction, and social assistance.

Payroll employment increased by an average of 375,000 per 

month in 2022, for a total gain of 4.5 million. In comparison,

job gains averaged 562,000 per month in 2021, for a total gain 

of 6.7 million.

Leisure and hospitality continued to add jobs in December 

(+67,000). Within the industry, employment continued to trend up 

in food services and drinking places (+26,000); amusements, 

gambling, and recreation (+25,000); and accommodation (+10,000). 

Employment in leisure and hospitality grew by an average of 

79,000 per month in 2022, substantially less than the 2021 

average monthly increase of 196,000. Employment in the industry 
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is down by 932,000, or 5.5 percent, from its pre-pandemic 

February 2020 level.

Health care employment grew by 55,000 in December, with 

gains in ambulatory health care services (+30,000), hospitals 

(+16,000), and nursing and residential care facilities (+9,000). 

In 2022, health care employment increased by an average of 

49,000 per month, considerably above the average monthly gain of 

9,000 in 2021.

Employment in construction grew by 28,000 in December,

with more than half of the gain in specialty trade contractors 

(+17,000). Construction added an average of 19,000 jobs per 

month in 2022, little different than the average of 16,000 per 

month in 2021.

In December, employment in social assistance rose by 

20,000. Employment in individual and family services trended up

over the month (+10,000). Employment in social assistance 

increased by an average of 17,000 per month in 2022, compared 

with the average of 13,000 per month in 2021.

Employment in the other services industry continued to 

trend up in December (+14,000). The industry added an average of 

14,000 jobs per month in 2022, lower than the average of 24,000 

per month in 2021. In December, employment in other services is 

below its February 2020 level by 174,000, or 2.9 percent.
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In December, mining employment increased by 4,000, 

reflecting a gain of 5,000 in support activities for mining.

Since a recent low in February 2021, mining employment has grown 

by 104,000.

Employment in retail trade changed little in December 

(+9,000). Job growth in retail trade averaged 16,000 per month 

in 2022, less than half the average growth of 35,000 jobs per 

month in 2021.

In December, manufacturing employment was little changed 

(+8,000). Job gains in durable goods (+24,000) were partially 

offset by losses in nondurable goods (-16,000). Manufacturing 

employment increased by an average of 32,000 per month in 2022, 

little different from the average of 30,000 per month in 2021.

In December, employment in transportation and warehousing 

changed little (+5,000). Air transportation (+3,000) added jobs 

over the month, while employment continued to trend down in 

couriers and messengers (-4,000) and in warehousing and storage 

(-3,000). In 2022, average job growth in transportation and 

warehousing (+17,000) was about half the average job growth in 

2021 (+36,000).

In December, government employment was essentially 

unchanged (+3,000). Employment in state government education 

declined by 24,000, reflecting strike activity among university 

employees.
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Employment in professional and business services changed 

little in December (-6,000). Temporary help services lost 35,000 

jobs over the month and has lost 111,000 jobs since July. Job

growth in professional and business services averaged 50,000 per 

month in 2022, roughly half of the average monthly growth in 

2021 (+94,000).

Employment also changed little over the month in other 

major industries, including wholesale trade, information, and 

financial activities.

In December, the average workweek for all private-sector 

workers declined by 0.1 hour to 34.3 hours. The average workweek 

for manufacturing was little changed at 40.1 hours.

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private 

nonfarm payrolls increased by 9 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $32.82 

in December. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings 

have increased by 4.6 percent.

Turning to the labor market indicators from the household 

survey, the unemployment rate edged down to 3.5 percent in 

December and has been in a narrow range of 3.5 percent to 3.7 

percent since March. The number of unemployed people, at 5.7 

million, also edged down over the month.

In December, the unemployment rate for Whites (3.0 

percent) decreased. The jobless rates for adult men (3.1 

percent), adult women (3.2 percent), teenagers (10.4 percent), 
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Blacks (5.7 percent), Asians (2.4 percent), and Hispanics (4.1 

percent) showed little or no change over the month.

The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more 

declined by 146,000 to 1.1 million in December. This measure is 

down from 2.0 million a year earlier. These long-term unemployed 

accounted for 18.5 percent of all unemployed people in December.

The employment-population ratio increased by 0.2 

percentage point over the month to 60.1 percent. The labor force 

participation rate was little changed at 62.3 percent. These 

measures have shown little net change since early 2022 and are 

below their February 2020 levels (by 1.0 percentage point each).

In December, the number of people working part time for 

economic reasons was little changed at 3.9 million.

The number of people not in the labor force who currently 

want a job declined by 352,000 in December to 5.2 million. This 

measure is little different from its February 2020 level of 5.1 

million.

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

job, the number of people marginally attached to the labor force 

decreased by 231,000 to 1.3 million in December. (People who are 

marginally attached to the labor force had not actively 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 
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the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available 

for them, was essentially unchanged at 410,000 in December.

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 2018--were subject to revision.

As previously announced, this is the final Commissioner's 

Statement on the Employment Situation. (The Employment Situation 

news release will continue to be published.) Archived 

Commissioner's Statements on the Employment Situation for 1994-

2022 can be found at www.bls.gov/bls/news-release/jec.htm.

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 223,000 in 

December, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.5 percent.