After a disappointing November, expect Donald Trump to come out bragging about a strong December jobs report: The economy added 312,000 jobs. Unemployment rose slightly to 3.9 percent, but not in a bad way—when people aren’t bothering to look for work, they don’t count as unemployed. Another 2.9 percent of people are working part-time involuntarily. There was a 3.2 percent year-over-year increase in wages.
Putting it in perspective, the Economic Policy Institute’s Elise Gould writes that:
Today’s report gives us a chance to look back on the whole of 2018—and look toward the year ahead. Average monthly job creation has held remarkably steady for the past eight years, but it did tick up slightly in the last year, from 182,000 in 2017 to 220,000 in 2018. This increase shows the importance of fiscal stimulus, as 2018 saw increased government spending as well as the tax bill which, while inefficient and short-lived, still provided some stimulus.
Many experts expect hiring to slow in the coming year. As well, December’s numbers don't yet show the effects of Trump’s partial government shutdown, which has 800,000 people furloughed or working without pay.