Dec. unemployment rate stays at 7.8%

Tire Business staff report

WASHINGTON (Jan. 4, 2013) — The national unemployment rate stayed at 7.8 percent for December as non-farm payroll employment rose by 155,000 jobs for the month, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Job gains averaged 153,000 per month in 2012, the same as in 2011, said BLS Acting Commissioner John M. Galvin. Healthcare scored the biggest gains, with 45,000 new jobs for December and 338,000 for the year, Mr. Galvin said.

The rate does not include those who have dropped out of the job market.

Manufacturing jobs grew by 25,000 for December and 180,000 for the year, with most of the gains recorded in the first quarter of 2012, he said. While retail trade was soft in December, employment trended upward for auto dealerships.

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) said the December job figures gave U.S. business little reason to be hopeful.

"Job creation in December was essentially zero, although it improved infinitesimally from the November report," said NFIB Chief Economist William C. Dunkelberg. "But it's nothing to write home about, and certainly not a sign that robust growth is on the horizon."

Scott Paul, executive director for the Alliance for American Manufacturing, was more hopeful, though qualifiedly so.

If the December rate of jobs growth in the manufacturing sector continues at the same pace for President Barack Obama's second term, that will mean 1.2 million new manufacturing jobs, Mr. Paul said.

"But December was an outlier during the last three quarters of 2012, when manufacturing employment was essentially stagnant," he said. "The new Congress would be wise to take up a jobs agenda."