Last year’s robust jobs growth in the U.S. continued apace in December, even amid signs that the economy was slowing as President Donald Trump’s trade war with China takes a toll on both countries and the stimulus fades from the late-2017 tax cuts.
Nonfarm payrolls climbed by about 312,000 in December, the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said in a report on Friday, Jan. 4. That level was well above economists’ average estimate of 180,000 new jobs in a survey by the data provider FactSet. The December pace was double the 155,000 jobs added in November, and also above the average 206,000 per month created during all of 2018.
