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December US Employment Preview
On Friday at 8:30 AM ET, the BLS will release the employment report for December. The consensus is for an increase of 160,000 non-farm payroll jobs, and for the unemployment rate to be unchanged at 3.5%. Last month, the BLS reported 266,000 jobs added in November (including the end of the GM strike). Here is a summary of recent data: • The ADP employment report showed an increase of 202,000 private sector payroll jobs in December. This was well above consensus expectations of 156,000 private sector payroll jobs added. The ADP report hasn't been very useful in predicting the BLS report for any one month, but in ... (full story)