If the US economy added 160,000 positions in December as expected, that will join an average of 232,000 jobs per month through November, and a total of around 2.78 million for the year.
While that’s far below the 4.79 million jobs gained in 2022 — the second-highest annual total since 1939 — 2023 will still go down as a year full of twists, turns and historic gains for the labor market.
In January last year, the unemployment rate fell to 3.4%, a level not seen since 1969, when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon.
In April 2023, the unemployment rate for Black workers hit a record low of 4.7%.
And then in June, the labor force participation rate for women in their prime working age (25-54 years old) hit an all-time high of 77.8%. The overall labor force participation rate in November was 62.8%, the highest it’s been since the start of the pandemic.
“It’s been a good year for Black men; it’s been a good year for Black women; it’s been a good year for women in general,” Jane Oates, a former Department of Labor official who is president of employment education nonprofit WorkingNation, told CNN in an interview.
