PeopleImages/iStock(WASHINGTON) — U.S. employers added 312,000 jobs to their payrolls in December, the Labor Department reported Friday morning, exceeding economists’ expectations.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said most of the job gains were in health care (50,000), food services and drinking places (41,000), construction (38,000), manufacturing (32,000) and retail trade (24,000).
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, rose to 3.9 percent after holding steady at 3.7 percent — a near five-decade low — for months.
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