“News on the unemployment rate was not quite as good as other parts of the report,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York, who accurately projected the December payrolls figure. “The Fed has the green light to continue with its quantitative easing.”
8.1 Percent
The jobless rate for all of 2012 was 8.1 percent, the lowest annual average in four years.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said that he sees the possibility of unemployment dropping to 7.1 percent by the end of this year.
“I think that unemployment will continue to tick down through 2013,” Bullard said yesterday in an interview on CNBC. A 7.1 percent rate “would probably be substantial improvement” in the labor market, he said, referring to the Fed’s goal for halting its open-ended monthly purchases.
Yesterday’s report also showed hourly earnings climbed to $23.73 on average in December, increasing by 0.3 percent for a second month and beating the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg that called for a 0.2 percent advance. They rose 2.1 percent from December 2011, the biggest gain in a year. Additionally, the work week climbed six minutes to 34.5 hours.
Factory Jobs
Factory payrolls increased by 25,000, the most since March, yesterday’s report showed. Employment at private service- providers increased 109,000.
Winnebago Industries Inc., a Forest City, Iowa-based maker of motor homes, was among companies expanding to increase production. It hired about 160 people, or 12 percent more hourly employees, in the quarter ended Dec. 1.
“We’re still supplementing by working overtime in many, many areas of the company,” Sarah Nielsen, chief financial officer, said on a Dec. 20 earnings conference call. “That’s been a factor for the last six months plus.”