December 2014 employment: A strong finish to a good economic year

5.8 percent in November. An estimated 8.7 million people remain unemployed, though the number of unemployed people declined by 383,000 between November and December. The Bureau’s demographic information showed that it was adult women that saw the biggest surge in employment opportunities in December. Employment for the other demographics remained stable compared to previous months. The number of people who have been unemployed for more than 27 weeks also stayed about the same, as did the number of people who worked part-time jobs because of a lack of full-time opportunities. However, December saw 252,000 new jobs added, primarily in professional and business services, construction, and food and beverage places. Overall, 2014 saw an average of 246,000 jobs added per month, while 2013 only averaged 194,000 jobs per month. In professional services, 52,000 new jobs were added in December. Though there was actually a decline in the number of accounting and bookkeeping jobs available last month, the bulk of the new job opportunities were in administrative and waste services. Construction likewise saw a strong finish to the year, with 48,000 new jobs in December. Most of those positions were specialty trade contractors, though civil engineering construction and commercial building also saw decent results (12,000 and 10,000 new jobs, respectively). Food service saw 44,000 jobs added, up from the previous monthly average of 30,000 jobs. Health care services also saw 34,000 new jobs, primarily in ambulatory services. The manufacturing, financial and wholesale trading industries continued to trend upward as well, while government, mining, transportation, information and retail sectors remained steady for the close of the year.]]>