Unemployment Rate Drops to 5.6%
American employers added 252K jobs last month, more than the 240K forecasted by economists and a tally that pushed the unemployment rate down to 5.6%. Additionally, November gains were revised upward today to 353K from 321K. With 2014 behind us, January stuck out as the only month of the year that saw under 200K jobs added.
Joseph Lake, an analyst for the Economic Intelligence Unit, noted in an employment report that "[2014] will be remembered as the year that the US went back to work" However, hourly wages remained stubbornly resistant to growth and actually dipped $0.05 to an average $24.57 in December. Forbes noted that the decline was especially frustrating as it came on the heels of a $0.06 increased last November. Finally, labor force participation rate ticked down to 62.7% from 62.9%.
