Economic Times reported that employers probably added jobs in December at about the same pace as the prior month, showing the US labour market held up as lawmakers struggled to resolve the fiscal impasse, economists said before a report this week.
Payrolls rose by 150,000 workers after a 146,000 gain in November, according to the median forecast of 54 economists surveyed by Bloomberg ahead of Labour Department figures due on January 4. The unemployment rate may have held at 7.7%, the lowest since December 2008.
Mr Ryan Sweet a senior economist at Moody's Analytics Inc in West Chester, Pennsylvania said that "Job growth around 150,000 is a decent way to end the year. Businesses are worried but not panicked. We'll see much stronger employment gains in the second half of 2013."
The path to faster hiring was made difficult by the possibility of more than USD 600 billion in tax increases and government spending cuts in 2013. Other reports this week that are projected to show stability in manufacturing and expansion in the services industry underscore a resilient economy.
The Labour Department's report this week is projected to show that private employment, which excludes government agencies, climbed by 153,000 in December following a 147,000 increase, economists predicted.
According to William Gale, chief financial officer, Cintas Corp, a Cincinnatibased provider of uniforms, supplies and safety products, is among businesses that noted a wait and see attitude among clients on concern about the possibility of fiscal tightening.
Monthly job gains of 250,000 or more Mr Gale said that "Should start impacting our types of customers and hopefully we'll see that as we get into 2013, but I think it's not a sure thing by any means right now.”
Payroll gains this year through November have averaged about 151,000 a month compared with 147,000 in the same period of 2011. The US had recovered 4.6 million of the 8.8 million jobs lost as a result of the 18-month recession that ended in June 2009. The goal of faster progress in the labour market is one reason Federal Reserve policy makers decided on December 12 to expand stimulus to spur the more than three-year-old recovery.
