8:30am 01/07/05 U.S. Dec. nonfarm payrolls up 157,000 By Rex Nutting WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) - U.S. nonfarm payrolls grew by a seasonally adjusted 157,000 in December while the unemployment rate remained steady at 5.4 percent, the Labor Department said Friday. With upward revisions of 34,000 to previous months, payroll growth was close to expectations of 178,000. For all of 2004, 2.231 million jobs were added, the best since 1999. Average hourly earnings rose by 2 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $15.86 in December, less than the 0.2 percent expected by economists surveyed by CBS MarketWatch. The average workweek added back a tenth of an hour to 33.8 hours in December. The total number of hours worked in the economy grew by 0.4 percent.
Dutchy
|