The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its employment / unemployment report
for December on January 9^th, 2026.

Employment / Unemployment 

• Seasonally Adjusted U3-  4.4% in December
• Unadjusted U3- 4.1% down from 4.3% in November
• Unadjusted U6- 8.2% down from 8.4% in November
• Labor Force Participation Rate- 62.4%
• Employment- 160.448 million in December
• Employment- 160.640 million in November
• Next data release February 6, 2026

Summary:

Despite Seasonally Adjusted  BLS statements, if we look at the Unadjusted Establishment Survey report, Total Employed decreased in December, but Unadjusted and Adjusted Unemployment also decreased. Labor Force Participation was also down slightly.

According to the Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

“Both total nonfarm payroll employment (+50,000) and the unemployment rate (4.4 percent) changed little in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment continued to trend up in food services and drinking places, health care, and social assistance. Retail trade lost jobs…

Since reaching a peak in January, federal government employment is down by 277,000, or 9.2 percent. (Employees on paid leave or receiving ongoing severance pay are counted as employed in the establishment survey.)… Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.8 percent. “

You can read the full BLS report here.

As usual, they are talking about “Seasonally Adjusted Jobs”.

Looking at the Unadjusted Establishment Survey report we see…
Originally, the BLS reported employment of 160.652 million for November, 
which they adjusted slightly to 160.640 million jobs for November.

They are currently reporting 160.448 million jobs for December, which is actually a decrease of -204,000 jobs based on their original numbers.

The LFPR was down from 62.5% in November to 62.4% in December.

Current Unemployment Rate Chart

As we can see, unemployment is above pre-COVID lows of 2019 and the January and April lows of 2023.

Current Employment Rate

Initial job numbers were highly inflated in 2023 and 2024, and later, when they were out of the spotlight, they were adjusted downward, often by more than half a million. In 2025, Trump fired the BLS Commissioner, and since then, the initial numbers have been closer to the adjusted numbers. Adjusted numbers are not yet available for September through November due to the Government shutdown.

See Current Employment  for more information.

BLS: December 2025 Employment by Sector

The BLS employment “bubble chart” based on the Establishment Survey Data gives us a good picture of the Seasonally Adjusted employment numbers.

The Bubble’s Size tells us the total Employment for that industry (i.e., larger bubbles mean more people are employed in that sector).

The bubble’s location on the chart tells us that there has been a change in Employment Levels over the most recent month… A bubble further to the right indicates larger job growth. A bubble’s vertical location on the chart shows the average industry salary.

Remember, these are Seasonally Adjusted Numbers, so they aren’t cumulative!

Looking at the above chart, we can see that seven sectors were below zero (i.e., left of the zero line, i.e., lost workers). But average weekly wages increased.

BLS Average Weekly Wages

BLS Employment and Average Weekly Earnings by Industry

December 2025, Seasonally Adjusted Employment

Note: The monthly increase is Seasonally Adjusted, so even though November and December Employment is the same for Mining and Logging, the adjusted numbers indicate that employment was down by -2,000.

Source: BLS

ADP^® National Employment Report

ADP provides an independent (non-government) estimate of private-sector employment and pay, based on data derived from ADP client payrolls. According to ADP®, In collaboration with Stanford Digital Economy Lab.

Note: The numbers are released a few days before the BLS numbers and are often quite different. But these numbers are actually quite close to the BLS seasonally adjusted numbers.

ADP: Private employers added 41,000 jobs in December

• December brought a rebound in hiring, led by education and health services, and leisure and hospitality.

Source: ADP®

ADP Private Employment by Establishment Size

ADP Job Gainers / Losers

Unemployment

Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment fell to 4.4% from 4.5% in November.

Less Than Full Employment

This chart compares employment levels with the (inverted) unemployment rate.

Full Employment is when everyone who wants a job has one. It is generally considered to be around 3%. After the unemployment rate almost touched the magic full employment line in April 2023, it began moving away (i.e., higher unemployment).

Note: The Unemployment rate is inverted to track the employment rate. Neither is Seasonally Adjusted. For more information see Employment vs. Unemployment.

Note: Full employment is not considered to be at zero percent because even when employers are having difficulty finding employees, some people are still unemployed due to either:

1. structural unemployment (mismatch between worker skills and job requirements, i.e., not enough training) or
2. frictional unemployment There will always be people who have quit or have lost a seasonal job and are in the process of getting a new job. Or Simply because they quit their job knowing it would be easy to find another (hopefully better) job.

Seasonally Adjusted U1 through U6 Unemployment Rates

Labor Force Participation Rate

The LFPR fell to 62.4% in December. 

Note: A rising LFPR means that a greater portion of the Non-Institutional population is in the Labor Force.

The Labor Force Participation Rate is the percentage of the Non-Institutional Population that makes up the Labor Force.

And the Employment – Population Ratio is the percentage of the Total Population that is Employed.  We created a chart to help explain the difference. The Employment–Population Ratio is the percentage of the largest circle to the smallest circle in this diagram. In contrast, the LFPR is the relationship of the 2nd largest circle to the 3rd largest circle (entire green circle).

Employment-Population Ratio

By Gender

This chart shows the Employment-Population Ratio by Gender. Men make up a much larger portion of the workforce, i.e., 67.3% of men are employed, and only 56.3% of women are employed. But…

As you can see, 20 years ago, back in 2005, over 72% of men were working and 57.4% of women were working. In 2008, the Great Recession caused a massive decline in employment for both men and women. By December of 2009, only 66.4% of men were working and 55.4% of women. Over the next decade and a half, women workers rebounded back to 56.4% but men only rebounded to 67.4%.

Employment-Population Ratio by Race

This chart shows the Employment-Population Ratio by Race (including both Men and Women). As we can see, Hispanics and Asians have the highest percentage of their population employed.

Duration of Unemployment

When the 27-week line begins moving upward, it signals a problem in the economy, and over the last few months, it has been gradually climbing, but it fell slightly in November. Unemployed 27 Weeks or Longer

Although we see a sharp decline in August-September long-term unemployment rebounded in November-December.

Unemployment by Education

Unemployment for the less educated fell sharply in December, possibly due to Seasonal hiring.

Note that simply getting a High School education reduces your chances of unemployment from 5.6% to 4.4%. Getting some College or an Associates degree reduces your chances further to 3.8%, and a 4-year degree or higher reduces it to 2.8%.

Read more on UnemploymentData.com.