U.S. added 292,000 jobs in December

Temporary work, like construction, was up.
(Image credit: WEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

The United States added 292,000 jobs in December, rounding out a year of steady growth; the jobless rate remained at 5 percent. "The remarkable thing is how consistent employment growth has been over the past three or four years," Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, told The New York Times. "We're getting at least 200,000 jobs per month on a consistent basis. That's quite an achievement." Many of the gains were in temporary-help services, health care, transportation, and construction, Bloomberg reports.

Payrolls also grew in December, making 2015 the second-best year for employees since 1999 and supporting the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.