Employment Situation News Release
Transmission of material in this news release is embargoed until 8:30 a.m. (ET) Friday, January 9, 2026
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- DECEMBER 2025
Both total nonfarm payroll employment (+50,000) and the unemployment rate (4.4 percent) changed little in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
Employment continued to trend up in food services and drinking places, health care, and social assistance. Retail trade lost jobs.
This news release presents statistics from two monthly surveys. The household survey measures labor force status, including unemployment, by demographic characteristics. The establishment survey measures nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings by industry. For more information about the concepts and statistical methodology used in these two surveys, see the Technical
Note.
Household Survey Data
Both the unemployment rate, at 4.4 percent, and the number of unemployed people, at 7.5million, changed little in December. (See table A-1.)
Among the
major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.9 percent), adult
women
(3.9 percent), teenagers (15.7 percent), Whites (3.8 percent), Blacks (7.5 percent), Asians (3.6 percent), and Hispanics (4.9 percent) showed little or no change over the month. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
The number
of people jobless less than 5 weeks edged down to 2.3 million in December. The
number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) changed little over the month at 1.9 million but is up by 397,000 over the year. The long-term unemployed accounted for 26.0 percent of all unemployed people in December. (See table A-12.)
Both the labor force participation rate, at 62.4 percent, and the employment-population ratio, at 59.7 percent, changed little in December. These measures have shown little change over the year. (See table A-1.)
The number of people employed part time for economic reasons, at 5.3 million, changed little in December but is up by 980,000 over the year. These individuals would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs. (See table A-8.)
The number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job was little changed at 6.2 million in December but is up by 684,000 over the year. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job. (See table A-1.)
Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of people marginally attached to the labor force changed little at 1.8 million in December. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months but had not looked for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for them, decreased by 183,000 in December to 461,000. (See Summary table A.)
Establishment Survey Data
Total nonfarm payroll employment changed little in December (+50,000). Employment continued to trend up in food services and drinking places, health care, and social assistance. Retail trade lost jobs. Payroll employment rose by 584,000 in 2025 (an average monthly gain of 49,000), less than the increase of 2.0 million in 2024 (an average monthly gain of 168,000).(See table B-1.)
Employment
in food services and drinking places continued to trend up in December (+27,000).
Food services and drinking places added an average of 12,000 jobs per month in 2025, similar to the average increase of 11,000 jobs per month in 2024.
Health care employment continued its upward trend in December (+21,000), with a gain of 16,000 jobs in hospitals. Health care employment rose by an average of 34,000 per month in 2025, less than the average monthly gain of 56,000 in 2024.
Retail trade lost 25,000 jobs in December. Over the month, employment declined in warehouse clubs, supercenters, and other general merchandise retailers (-19,000) and in food and beverage retailers (-9,000). Electronics and appliance retailers added 5,000 jobs.
Retail trade employment showed little net change in both 2024 and 2025.
Federal
government employment was little changed in December (+2,000). Since reaching a
peak
in January, federal government employment is down by 277,000, or 9.2 percent. (Employees on paid leave or receiving ongoing severance pay are counted as employed in the establishment survey.)
Employment
showed little or no change over the month in other major industries, including
mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; construction; manufacturing; wholesale trade; transportation and warehousing; information; financial activities; professional and business services; and other services.
In December, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 12 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $37.02. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.8 percent. In December, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees, at $31.76, changed little (+3 cents). (See tables B-3 and B-8.)
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged down by 0.1 hour to 34.2 hours in December. In manufacturing, the average workweek edged down by 0.2 hour to 39.9 hours, and overtime was unchanged at 2.9 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls remained at 33.7 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised down by 68,000, from -105,000 to -173,000, and the change for November was revised down by 8,000, from +64,000 to +56,000. With these revisions, employment in October and November combined is 76,000 lower than previously reported. (Monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors.)
The Employment Situation for January is scheduled to be released on Friday, February 6, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_01092026.htm
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody Ga Tea Party Leader
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