Political | Process

Black women jobless number jumped to 6.2% from 4.9% — and followed a roughly 2 percentage-point drop in November.

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• The U.S. economy added just 199,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent from 4.2 percent, capping a year of volatility in the labor force that matched the contours of Covid-19 case loads.

• “It is not at all surprising that this month’s jobs report fell short given the current turbulence and potential impact from the Covid-19 omicron variant,” said Steve Rick, chief economist at CUNA Mutual Group.

• “Rising inflation and the ongoing supply chain crisis could have major implications for the economy as the winter progresses.”

• Joe Biden praised the employment report in a news conference from the White House on Friday, citing record job creation under his tenure and calling the BLS release “a historic day in our national recovery.”

• “America is moving up to better jobs with better pay and better benefits,” Biden said. “They’re not walking away and refusing to work it’s about taking a step up.” 

• Labor market observers suggested that more volatility is on the horizon as the omicron surge throws a wrench into school reopening’s, corporate return-to-office plans, large events and other benchmarks of economic normalcy. 

SOURCE: CNBC