The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that nonfarm payroll employment declined sharply in December, and the unemployment rate rose from 6.8 to 7.2 percent. Payroll employment fell by 524,000 over the month and by 1.9 million over the last 4 months of 2008.
Health care employment, however, continued to grow in December, adding 32,000 jobs. The bulk of the month’s job gains were in ambulatory services (14,000) and hospitals (12,000). In 2008, health care added 372,000 jobs.
Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has grown by 3.6 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 2.3 percentage points.
Read the BLS release.
