We learned this morning that payroll employment for the month of December increased by 252,000, with private payrolls increasing by 240,000. Figures for October and November were revised up, bringing the average number of net new jobs over the three months ending in December to 289,000. That is solid. The unemployment rate declined by two tenths of a percentage point, now standing at 5.6 percent. This would normally be good news, but much of the decline came from workers leaving the labor force. More thoughts, in tweets.
https://twitter.com/MichaelRStrain/status/553551714918617088
https://twitter.com/MichaelRStrain/status/553546966626746368
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— Michael R. Strain is deputy director of economic policy studies and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/MichaelRStrain.