1/10/26. 50,000 Jobs Added As Hiring Slows

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) yesterday reported preliminary figures indicating that 50,000 jobs were added in December 2025, and a slightly lower unemployment rate of 4.4% vs. 4.6% in November 2025. Jobs figures were reportedly shared a day before official release by President Trump, but that is another story. Reports the BLS, "Employment continued to trend up in food services and drinking places, health care, and social assistance. Retail trade lost jobs." In comparison, economists polled by Reuters expected a monthly gain of 60,000, while economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected a larger gain of 73,000, per NBC.

The figure of 50,000 jobs added last month indicate a hiring market that continues to slow, even as unemployment appears to have edged down 0.20%. A no-hire, no-fire job market appears more and more evident with each report, and a separate productivity report by BLS indicated an increase of 4.9% in labor productivity in Q3 2025 (July-September) with output increasing 5.4% and hours worked increasing 0.5%, perhaps demonstrating that workers are keener to hold on to the jobs that they currently have rather than look elsewhere for better opportunity. It is important to note, too, that even the relatively weak job figures reported on Friday may be revised downward. Both October and November job numbers reported also by BLS were revised from a loss of 105,000 jobs to a loss of 173,000 jobs in October, and from a gain of 64,000 jobs to a revised gain of 56,000 jobs in November. Jobs added may therefore be even weaker than reported in December as well.

BLS stated a total gain of about 584,000 jobs in 2025 compared with around 2,000,000 jobs added in 2024, no doubt influenced by volatile policy-making and aggressive public sector job cuts. Furthermore, hiring numbers were not even across the board, with new payrolls concentrated in food services, social services, and healthcare, and with some other private sector payrolls apparently stagnant or perhaps shedding positions in industries such as retail, trade, and manufacturing year-on-year.

The other highlight of the BLS Employment Situation Summary report, as previously noted, was a slight downward movement in unemployment figures, from 4.6% in November to 4.4% in December. With this slight reduction, and with inflation still running consistently above the 2.0% inflation target set by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Federal Reserve Board may therefore be slower to cut interest rates. At least one interest rate cut is expected from the Fed in 2026. The Fed Funds target rate currently sits at 3.50-3.75%.

Speak with a financial advisor about how a slower job market and pause in interest rate cuts by the Fed may affect your investments or your financial plan.

References

1. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

2. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/prod2.nr0.htm

3. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/fed-seen-longer-rate-cut-pause-after-jobs-data-2026-01-09/

4. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/december-jobs-report-unemployment-rate-rcna253115

5. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/business/economy/business-economy-jobs-report-december.html

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