The perplexing December jobs report is raising concerns about how many Americans may have permanently left the labor force because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. added 199,000 jobs last month, well below economists’ expectations, but the unemployment rate dropped sharply to 3.9 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday. Wages also rose 0.6 percent last month while labor force participation stayed flat, a sign of growing demand for workers before the omicron variant took off in the U.S.
Employers have struggled for months to hire and retain workers, who have enjoyed new leverage in pandemic-restrained economy.
There were more than 10 million open jobs posted in November, according to Labor Department data released Tuesday, and more workers voluntarily left their jobs — likely to take new ones at higher pay — than ever before. Jobless claims have also lingered below pre-pandemic levels since mid-November, with businesses desperate to avoid layoffs of scarce workers.
Even so, the intense need for labor has not drawn roughly 1.7 million Americans who left the labor force in 2020 — and thus aren’t counted in the unemployment rate — back into the job hunt.
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