US Jobs Report: Labor Market Remains Positive for Latinos
The U.S. labor market is showing no signs of slowing down as the country's employers managed to add another 292,000 jobs last December, the latest data from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reveal.
The jobless rate remained remarkably low at five percent as employment opportunities increased in the food services, health care, construction and professional and business services sectors, BLS Commissioner Erica Groshen detailed in a statement.
The 292,000 figure, meanwhile, exceeds last year's already positive average monthly job growth of 221,000, and that of 260,000 marked during 2014. It is also higher than the average over the past three months, which had come to 284,000, the federal agency noted.
The positive trend also held true for the U.S. Latinos, benefiting from 40,090 new jobs in December. That was in line with the average growth of 39,657 the BLS recorded for Latinos over the past eight months. With the December jobs report, the Latino unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent, a minor drop from the consistent 6.4 percent between September and November.
Americans' overall confidence continues to grow, contributing to the strong labor market as consumers bought more homes and sales of newly built homes jumped nearly 15 percent last year, leading to important growth in the key construction sector. Construction companies added some 215,000 jobs in 2014, which accounts for a 3.4 percent gain.
"Construction showed strong job growth for the third consecutive month, (and) employment rose among specialty trade contractors and in construction of buildings," Groshen said.
Less successful, on the other hand, were manufacturers, who added just 17,000 jobs last year through November. But their sector only accounts for 10 percent of the U.S. economy and has only a minor effect on the overall BLS data.
Consumers, meanwhile, benefited from lower energy prices, which allowed U.S. households to save, on average, $722 last year from cheaper gas alone.
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