Job growth slows in Dec; unemployment rate steady at 3.5%

Washington

US job growth slowed more than expected in December, but the pace of hiring remains more than enough to keep the longest economic expansion in history on track despite a deepening downturn in a manufacturing sector stung by trade disputes.

The Labor Department's closely watched monthly employment report on Friday also showed the jobless rate holding near a 50-year low of 3.5 per cent. A broader measure of unemployment dropped to a record low 6.7 per cent last month, though wage gains ebbed. The report will probably not change the Federal Reserve's assessment that both the economy and monetary policy are in a "good place."