156,000 jobs added in December, Labor Department says

WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added 156,000 jobs in December, capping a year of slower but solid hiring and providing the last major snapshot of the economy President-elect Donald Trump will inherit from President Barack Obama.

Friday’s report from the Labor Department portrayed a job market that remains durable 71⁄2 years after the recovery from the Great Recession began. Though the unemployment rate rose to 4.7 percent from a nine-year low of 4.6 percent, it did so for an encouraging reason: More people began looking for work. Because not all of them found jobs immediately, more people were counted as unemployed in December.

Hourly pay jumped 2.9 percent from a year earlier, the sharpest increase in more than seven years. That is a positive sign that the low unemployment rate is forcing some businesses to offer higher wages to attract and keep workers. Sluggish growth in Americans’ paychecks has been a long-standing weak spot in the economic recovery.

For all of 2016, job growth averaged 180,000 a month, down from 229,000 in 2015, but enough to lower unemployment over time.

“While job growth has slowed somewhat, this is likely more due to a shortage of qualified workers rather than a lack of confidence among business leaders,” said Sal Guatieri, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones industrial average missed the 20,000 mark by a fraction of a point. Two other major indexes set records.

The Dow peaked at 19,999.63 in early afternoon trading, but it later lost steam. It finished up 64.51 points, or 0.3 percent, at 19,963.80. The S&P 500 rose 7.98 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,276.98. The Nasdaq composite jumped 33.12 points, or 0.6 percent, to 5,521.06.

Stocks finished the week with a big gain as investors remained optimistic about the U.S. economy. The S&P 500 climbed 1.7 percent. That was a marked change from last year, when the index lost 6 percent as the market got off to its worst opening week in history.

Hiring last month was led by the health care sector, which added 43,000 jobs, mostly in doctors’ offices and hospitals. Manufacturing resumed hiring after four months of job cuts, adding 17,000.

Restaurants and bars gained 30,000 positions. Transportation and warehousing, fueled by the growth of online shopping during the holiday season, added 15,000. On the other hand, construction and mining shed jobs.

A broader gauge of unemployment, which includes part-time workers who would prefer fulltime work as well as people who have stopped looking for jobs, dipped to 9.2 percent from 9.3 percent. That’s the lowest level since April 2008.

“More people are back at work than at any point since the recession,” noted Jed Kolko, chief economist at the job site Indeed.com.

AP FILE The Labor Department provided a final snapshot of the economy under President Barack Obama.