The U.S. job market is still healthy, but it's slowing down as recession fears mount

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Employers added 223,000 jobs in December, capping a year in which the economy added 4.5 million jobs, more than refilling the deep hole left by the coronavirus pandemic two years earlier.

Businesses are holding onto their workersthis week from companies like Amazon and Salesforce. New claims for unemployment benefits remain at historically low levels.struggling for much of the last two years to find enough workersMore than 400,000 workers entered or re-entered the workforce last month, and the share of adults working or looking for work inched up by a tenth of a percent.

"Now we're coming to a point where consumer spending has shifted again," she says."Tech is responding by pulling back."Financial firms are also cutting back on hiring, in the face of rising interest rates. And factories have scaled back hiring as well. Manufacturers added just 8,000 jobs in December, a quarter of the monthly average last year.monthly survey of factory managers"The first half of 2023 is going to be sluggish," Fiore says.

The Federal Reserve would welcome some slowdown in hiring, especially if it helps to keep a lid on wage gains. The central bank is worried that rapid pay increases could add to inflation, especially in labor-intensive service businesses. Average hourly wages in December were 4.6% higher than a year ago. The annual increase in November was initially reported as 5.1%, although that was revised down to 4.8%.Scott Horsley is NPR's Chief Economics Correspondent. He reports on ups and downs in the national economy as well as fault lines between booming and busting communities.Keep up with all the latest news, arts and culture, and TV highlights from KPBS.

 

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