WASHINGTON: US employers probably tempered their hiring last month to wrap up a year of moderating yet still-healthy job growth that economists expect to carry on in 2025.
Payrolls increased 160,000 in December, when the labour market moved beyond distortions caused by hurricanes and strike activity in previous months, according to the median projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
That would put average monthly job growth near 180,000 for 2024 – lower than the prior three years but consistent with a firm labour market.
The monthly jobs data on Friday are unlikely to alter the view of Federal Reserve (Fed) officials that they can slow the pace of interest-rate cuts amid a durable economy and inflation that’s dissipating only gradually.
Investors on Dec 8 will parse minutes of the Fed’s December meeting for additional insight on how torn policymakers were on the quarter-point reduction in rates. At the time, Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack was the lone dissenter. — Bloomberg
