Employers across the U.S. added 50,000 jobs in December, roughly in line with economists’ forecasts, although reflecting a slowdown in hiring from the previous month.
The numbers
The monthly job gains were below the 55,000 forecast by economists, according to a poll by FactSet.
Job growth slowed throughout 2025 as some businesses grappled with economic uncertainty, prompting them to pull back on hiring.
Some big corporations, such as Amazon, cut jobs as they sought to rely more on artificial intelligence, while the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency oversaw the reduction of roughly 300,000 government jobs last year, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Employers cut more than 35,500 jobs last month, a decline from the 71,321 reductions announced in November, Challenger, Gray said on Thursday.
The headwinds facing the labor market prompted the Federal Reserve to thrice cut its benchmark interest rate late last year, as lowering borrowing costs can help spur hiring by making it cheaper for businesses to expand.
But there’s some evidence the job market may be firming up, with Bank of America earlier this month noting that its analysis of private payrolls showed a December rebound.
“So, while the labor market appears to still be in a ‘low-hire, low-fire’ mode, the apparent rebound in jobs growth may suggest the worst of the slowdown is behind us,” its analysts said in a Wednesday report.