Economist: December Jobs Report Is What Fed Wants to See

The U.S. economy created 223,000 new jobs in December, down from 256,000 in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This was slightly higher than economists’ expectations of 200,000. The unemployment rate slipped to 3.5 percent last month, down from 3.6 percent in the previous month. This was also below market estimates of 3.7 percent. Average hourly earnings eased to 4.6 percent year-over-year and rose 0.3 percent month-over-month to $32.82. Average weekly hours also dipped to 34.3 percent. The labor force participation rate edged up to 62.3 percent. NTD's Don Ma spoke with Julia Pollak to get her take on the jobs report. Pollak is the chief economist at ZipRecruiter.