ARLINGTON, Va.—Beyond just the robust topline numbers, the latest jobs report, with 312,000 jobs gained in December, also shows increased strength in wages.
As CUToday.info reported earlier here, the unemployment rate actually increased to 3.9% in December as the labor force expanded by 419,000 workers.
Average hourly earnings increased 11 cents to $27.48 in December. Over the last 12 months, wages are up 3.2%, which marks the fastest growth since April 2009. Since 2009, year-over-year wage growth has averaged just 2.3%.
In other report data, private-sector payroll employment increased 301,000 jobs during December. The goods-producing sector increased 74,000 jobs, while the service sector increased 227,000 jobs. Public sector employment rose 11,000 from the prior month.