By Martha C. White - NBC News
The economy lost 140,000 jobs in December, a clear indication that the restriction of economic activity due to the pandemic intensified in the final weeks of last year.
The unemployment rate
remained stable at 6.7%
.
In the latest 2020 U.S. employment report, released this Friday, the monthly report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows
a job market on the brink of abyss at the end of a tumultuous year
.
"The December employment report shows a bleak outlook for the US economy, including the hiring rate declining for the first time since last spring," said Mark Hamrick, an economic analyst at Bankrate.
"Between the human and economic cost of the pandemic,
these are some of the darkest hours
of this tragedy that will soon be one year old," he added.
Unemployment has remained at 6.7% in recent months.
Telemundo News
Economists say the figures uncover the challenges American workers face and represent a mandate for President-elect Joe Biden's Administration to accomplish two things: address the immediate financial needs of these households and develop a long-term solution. that fosters job growth and protects the most vulnerable workers from being marginalized.
[USA. records a new record for deaths from COVID-19: more than 4,100 in one day. Hospitals fear not having enough oxygen]
"It's eerily how this resembles when Joe Biden took over as vice president facing a significant challenge in the job market," said Andrew Stettner, a member of The Century Foundation.
"I think there is going to be a
lot of urgency to do something from the beginning,
" he said.
The government data comes just two days after a report by the ADP company, which provides payroll management services, revealed that
the private sector lost 123,000 jobs in December
, the first drop since April.
A report by executive job change and layoff advisory services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that planned job cuts rose nearly 20% in December, compared to previous months.
The companies announced that they were cutting 77,000 jobs.
This number is 135% higher than last year's figure.
The United States records a new record of daily deaths from coronavirus: more than 4,000 in 24 hours
Jan. 8, 202100: 30
Economists had predicted that worsening
COVID-19 infection rates in the winter months could hurt
the economic recovery, even as the promise of a vaccine has spurred hope on Wall Street and pushed the stock market to high levels. record.
President Donald Trump has treated the stock market as a barometer of his tenure and an indicator of success.
Observers predict that Biden will view the nation's economic health through a very different lens.