Employment Research Brief

Multiple growth signals noted at 2024’s conclusion. Overall employment increased by 256,000 jobs in December — the strongest month for hiring since March — bringing the total for 2024 to 2.2 million new positions. Though this is down from the prior year’s 3 million-role tally, with the average number of jobs created per month declining across most sectors, employment growth has actually picked up in recent months compared with earlier this year. On a trailing 90-day basis, the mean monthly pace of hiring hit a post-pandemic low of 113,000 in August 2024 before climbing back to 170,000 by December. Every major employment sector except trade, transportation and utilities noted the same general pattern. This suggests that while labor growth has eased since the recovery after 2020, jobs are still being added at a pace in line with much of the 2011–2019 span.