10.01.202012:47:00UTC+00U.S. Employment Climbs Less Than Expected In December

After reporting a substantial increase in U.S. employment in the previous month, the Labor Department released a report on Friday showing the pace of job growth slowed by more than expected in the month of December.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 145,000 jobs in December after spiking by a revised 256,000 in November.

Economists had expected employment to increase by about 164,000 jobs compared to the jump of 266,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said the unemployment rate came in at 3.5 percent in December, unchanged from the previous month and in line with economist estimates.