By Josh Mitchell
The U.S. shed 140,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate was 6.7%, ending seven months of job growth and suggesting the economy is weakening.
The Labor Department report showed the jobs market has deteriorated this winter as cold weather, rising Covid infections and new restrictions on businesses deal a setback to the recovery from the pandemic.
In one positive sign, job growth in November was stronger than previously estimated. The agency said the economy added 336,000 jobs that month instead of the initially reported 245,000.
Meanwhile, the department also said that the record surge in the unemployment rate last spring due to the pandemic was higher than it previously reported. The jobless rate hit 14.8% in April, the highest on record, instead of the previously reported 14.7%.
The December decline was driven by a sharp decline in jobs in the leisure and hospitality industries, which lost 498,000 jobs. Retail businesses added 121,000 while manufacturing and construction operations also posted increases that helped offset the overall decline.
Friday's report showed that 2020 was the worst year of job loss on records that began in 1939. Last year's job loss of 9.4 million eclipsed the five million jobs lost in 2009, during the recession caused by the housing crash.
Write to Josh Mitchell at joshua.mitchell@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-08-21 0902ET
