Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com – The U.S. Economy posted less jobs in December than was expected, however the government’s monthly reports still indicated that there are ongoing inflationary pressures from the labor markets.

Labor Department reported that the median month’s increase in employment was just 199,000. This is less than half of the expected 400,000. It’s a stark contrast to the 820,000 increase in private payrolls that ADP reported earlier in the week.  An upward revision of 39,000 on November’s payrolls number partially offset the disappointment.

But there were still signs that tight labor markets are causing higher wages. The month’s growth rate was 0.6%, higher than the 0.4% November figure, but also more rapid than that of 0.4% in November, which was also revised higher. Analysts predicted growth of 0.4%.  For the first time since March 2020, the meanwhile fell below 4%.