The US continued to add jobs in December 2023, with total nonfarm employment seeing a greater increase than in November. But the country lost 33,000 temp jobs in December. Revised data also show the number of temp jobs in November is 50,800 below what was initially reported.

SIA research indicates the volatility and changes may, to some extent, reflect updated seasonal adjustment factors that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics implements each year. However, the change in nonseasonally adjusted numbers was even sharper.

The US temp penetration rate edged down to 1.80% in December from 1.82% in November.

“This month’s BLS report highlights the overall strength in the labor market with near record low unemployment and labor demand continuing to exceed supply,” SIA President Barry Asin said. “In contrast, temp employment as a percent of total employment is now at the lowest level since the pandemic began.”

Employment in temp help peaked in March 2022 and has fallen by 346,000 since then, according to the BLS.

Overall, however, US nonfarm payrolls rose by 216,000 in December 2023 compared to November. That’s larger than the increase of 173,000 in November, based on revised data.

December’s unemployment rate for the US was 3.7%, unchanged from November. The college-level unemployment rate was at 2.1%, also unchanged from the previous month.

Segments adding jobs in December included government, healthcare, social assistance and construction. On the flip side, transportation and warehousing lost jobs.

Government added 52,000 jobs in December, with local government adding 37,000 of those.

Healthcare gained 38,000 jobs. This industry gained an average of 55,000 per month in 2023.

Social assistance roles increased by 21,000 in December, and construction employment climbed by 17,000. Construction added an average of 16,000 jobs per month in 2023.

Transportation and warehousing saw a decline of 23,000 jobs in December. Employment in this industry peaked in October 2022 and has since decreased by 100,000, according to the BLS.

In total, the US had more than 157.2 million nonfarm jobs in December 2023 and more than 2.8 million temp jobs.

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 15 cents in December to $34.27. For production and nonsupervisory employees, average hourly earnings rose by 10 cents to $29.42.

See SIA’s report for a full discussion of jobs numbers for the month of December.