Employers added 256,000 jobs in December, blowing away forecasts

Employers added 256,000 jobs in December, far exceeding economists’ expectations and signaling that the job market remains resilient in the face of still-high borrowing rates and stickier-than-expected inflation. 

The economy was expected to add 153,000 jobs last month, according to economists polled by financial-data firm FactSet. The unemployment rate was forecast to remain steady at 4.2%. 

The Jan. 10 jobs report marks the last monthly employment snapshot of the Biden administration, which inherited an economy scarred by the pandemic. When Biden was inaugurated in January 2021, the jobless rate stood at 6.4%, while inflation was about to soar to 40-year highs, kicking off a flurry of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve to tame price increases. 

Under the Fed’s restrictive monetary policy, the economy has cooled, dampening inflation but also creating some cracks in the labor market. At the same time, the incoming Trump administration’s policies, if enacted, are expected to be inflationary, prompting some economists to predict that the central bank may hold off on cutting rates at its January 29 meeting. 

—This is a breaking story and will be updated.