US economy adds 155K jobs; rate remains 7.8 pct.

[No Elephants]

Jan 4, 11:54 AM EST

US economy adds 155K jobs; rate remains 7.8 pct.

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs in December, a steady gain that shows hiring held up during the tense negotiations to resolve the fiscal cliff.

The solid job growth wasn't enough to reduce the unemployment rate, which remained 7.8 percent last month, the Labor Department said Friday. The rate for November was revised up from an initially reported 7.7 percent.

Each January, the government updates the monthly unemployment rates for the previous five years. The rates for most months don't change.

The government said hiring was stronger in November than it first estimated. November's job increases were revised up 15,000 to 161,000. October's increase was nearly unchanged at 137,000.

The "gain is perhaps better than it looks given that firms were probably nervous about adding workers with the fiscal cliff looming," said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics.

Even so, hiring hasn't been strong enough to quickly reduce still-high unemployment. The job gains for December almost exactly matched the average monthly pace for the past two years. Hiring has been steady but modest as the economy has gradually improved.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ECONOMY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-01-04-11-54-23

Oh, yeah, they were sooooo nervous about the possiblity of going over the fiscal cliff that they hired at the same rate in December as they've been hiring for the past two years.

Ainsworth, please.

[Enthusiast]

1. My enthusiasm is wrung clear out.

Now that "we" have "won", things will get ultra shitty. The nation needs money for new wars.

This is something we simply must accept.