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156,945,000: 2018 Ends With Record Employment; Participation Rate Hits Trump-Era High
(CNSNews.com) - Amid concerns about trade with China and rollercoaster stock markets, the final employment report of 2018 counts as good news.The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday the economy added an impressivve 312,000 jobs in December, which was a month of strong retail sales; and the nation's unemployment rate increased two-tenths of a point to 3.9 percent, which is still an 18-year low. The number of employed Americans has now set a 14th record under Trump: When Trump became president in January 2017, 152,076,000 Americans were employed. Last month, that number grew to a record 156,945,000, a gain of 4,869,000 in two years. At the same time, the number of unemployed Americans increased by 276,000 last month, to 6,294,000, as more people were actively looking for work but had not found a job. In another positive sign, the labor force participation rate increased two-tenths of a point to 63.1 percent, the highest it's been since Trump took office. In December, the nation’s civilian noninstitutionalized population, consisting of all people age 16 or older who were not in the military or an institution, reached 258,888,000. Of those, 163,240,000 participated in the labor force by either holding a job or actively seeking one. Posted by: Besoeker 2019-01-05 |
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