The last U.S. employment report of the 2010s out Friday had few surprises, but it wrapped up a decade that featured some notable milestones in a job market that has changed dramatically in the space of 10 years.
RECORD DECADE FOR JOB CREATION
The 2010s will go into the record books – for at least another 10 years – as the decade that saw the greatest number of jobs created in the United States: 22.6 million.
It was a welcome recovery from the 2000s, the only decade in the history of Bureau of Labor Statistics data to feature a net loss of jobs, thanks largely to the two recessions that bookended that era. December’s report was the 111th monthly scorecard in a row to show employment gains, and the U.S. economy ended the decade with a record 152.4 million people working.
ULTRA-LOW UNEMPLOYMENT
The headline unemployment rate of 3.5% matched a low from half a century ago and is roughly a third of the level at the start of the decade.
A wider measure of unemployment – which counts Americans out of work, people involuntarily working part-time, and those just marginally attached to the workforce – fell to a record low in December. This so-called U-6 rate is down to 6.7% from a record-high 17.1% as the decade began.
Still, one in five of those out of work stayed unemployed for half a year or more, a percentage more typically seen during recessions.
