WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added just 50,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate slipped to 4.4%, the Labor Department said Friday. The US jobs report showed hiring increasingly concentrated in health care and restaurants while retailers cut payrolls and earlier job gains were revised lower, Jan. 9, 2026.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Situation report said October payrolls were revised down to a loss of 173,000 and November was revised to a gain of 56,000, leaving employment in those two months a combined 76,000 lower than previously reported. For 2025, payrolls rose 584,000 — an average monthly gain of 49,000 — far below the 2.0 million added in 2024.
Payrolls: +50,000 in December
Unemployment: 4.4%
Wages: average hourly earnings rose 0.3% to $37.02; up 3.8% from a year earlier
Revisions: October and November combined were cut by 76,000 jobs
US jobs report details: where hiring held up — and where it didn’t
The US jobs report showed food services and drinking places added 27,000 jobs in December. Health care employment rose 21,000, including a 16,000 increase at hospitals, while social assistance added 17,000.
Retail trade, by contrast, lost 25,000 jobs. Construction fell by 11,000 and manufacturing slipped by 8,000, as goods-producing industries overall declined by 21,000. Federal government employment was up 2,000 in December but remains down 277,000 since January.
Beyond payrolls, the US jobs report pointed to pockets of strain in the household data. Long-term unemployment held at 1.9 million in December but was up by 397,000 over the year, and the number of people working part time for economic reasons was 5.3 million, up 980,000 from a year earlier.
What the US jobs report could mean for the Fed
Wage growth that outpaced inflation and an unemployment rate holding in the mid-4% range are likely to support the view that the Federal Reserve can stay on pause. The central bank’s next policy meeting is scheduled for Jan. 27-28, according to the Federal Reserve’s 2026 meeting calendar.
Blerina Uruci, chief economist at T. Rowe Price, told the Associated Press that “there is no urgency for the Fed to cut rates further, for now.”
In a separate Reuters report, Fitch Ratings economist Olu Sonola said the unemployment rate “should douse the Fed’s recent urgency” even as weak job gains “can’t be brushed aside.”
How this US jobs report fits the longer trend
A year ago, the labor market looked sturdier: Reuters’ January 2025 coverage of the December 2024 jobs report cited a 256,000 payroll gain and a 4.1% unemployment rate.
By late summer 2025, hiring momentum had faded. A September 2025 Reuters story described payroll growth slowing to 22,000 in August as unemployment rose to 4.3%.
Looking ahead, the next US jobs report — covering January — is scheduled for release Feb. 6.
