Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 223,000 jobs in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. 

The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, and it has remained between 3.5% and 3.7% since the end of the first quarter of 2022.

There were notable job gains in the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 67,000 jobs in December, including 26,000 jobs at food services and drinking places. The industry is still 932,000 jobs short of its pre-pandemic employment level from February 2020.

Healthcare employment grew by 55,000 jobs in December. Growth in healthcare averaged 49,000 jobs per month in 2022 after only averaging 9,000 jobs per month in 2021.

Construction employment also grew in December, adding 28,000 jobs. The construction industry added an average of 19,000 jobs per month in 2022, up from 16,000 jobs a month in 2021. 

Here's how economists and others reacted to the November jobs report on Twitter.

Another strong jobs report

The economy added 223,000 jobs in December, beating expectations and only a slight slowdown from 256k in Nov.

**The US gained 4.5 million jobs in 2022, making it one of the best years of job growth ever (behind 2021)**

Unemployment rate = 3.5%

— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) January 6, 2023

It's jobs day, and non-farm payrolls for December comes in HOT again, adding 223k jobs, which is both robust in its own right, and stronger than expected.

Unemployment is down a tick to 3.5%, near 50-year lows. Anyone who thinks this is economy is in a recession is bananas.

— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) January 6, 2023

HUGE JOBS DAY BEAT:
--employment increased by 223K in December,
--unemployment rate DROPS back down to 3.5 percent. --big pickups in leisure and hospitality, health care, construction & social assistance

— talmon joseph smith (@talmonsmith) January 6, 2023

Nine months into the housing recession and the construction sector is still adding jobs …

— Dom White (@DomWh1te) January 6, 2023

#jobsday -- huge downward revision to November wage growth -- hold the rate hikes please

— Dean Baker (@DeanBaker13) January 6, 2023

Seems initially like a goldilocksy number for the market. No obvious sign of job market weakness. But enough deceleration in wages to maybe make the Fed happy.

— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) January 6, 2023

"Goldilocks" is being used to describe December's jobs report. The report certainly does provide support for a soft landing scenario. Would've liked to see stronger labor force participation and more notable cooling in wages, but otherwise the right direction for the Fed.

— Odeta Kushi (@odetakushi) January 6, 2023

The Powell Fed may be threading the soft-landing needle after all. https://t.co/yrk4VY1Y4D

— David Beckworth (@DavidBeckworth) January 6, 2023

This is a really terrific jobs report in lots of subtle ways.

Job growth is soft-landingish.

Labor supply looks to be rising.

Wage growth remains solid but not wage-price spiral alarming.

— Neil Irwin (@Neil_Irwin) January 6, 2023

BMO’s Ian Lyngen:There is nothing in the release that would imply it's anything other than a strong jobs report with moderating wage pressure. As a result, we argue the 25 bp vs. 50 bp rate hike debate now comes down to next week's CPI print.

— David Wessel (@davidmwessel) January 6, 2023

The most policy-relevant thing in today’s jobs numbers? December’s annualized monthly wage growth was 3.4%, a completely non-inflationary number. BY THIS MEASURE THE FED’S WORK IS DONE. 1/

— Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) January 6, 2023

Women gained 117k jobs, 52.5% of 223k total payroll jobs gained. Growth was particularly strong for women in Education & Health Services (+ 51k jobs) and Government (+34k jobs) while women lost most jobs Professional Services (-17k jobs) and Retail Trades (-14k jobs).

— IWPR (@IWPResearch) January 6, 2023

Hang on, I've just calculated the unemployment rate to extra decimal places, and December's rate of 3.468% is a new 50 YEAR LOW, the lowest rate since 1969.

— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) January 6, 2023

In sum,

- everything seems pretty stable in the labor market

- modest sustainable growth consistent with jobseekers finding work but some softening of strong employer demand

— Aaron Sojourner (@aaronsojourner) January 6, 2023

Key takeaways from a great December job report:

1) 4.5 million jobs added in 2022.
2) Job growth is slowing, but not much
3) Unemployment rate 3.5% (lowest in 53 years)
4) Labor force is growing! +2.6 million in 2022
5) Wages +4.6% in past year. That's slowing...which Fed wants pic.twitter.com/frtHnDXZhM

— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) January 6, 2023