December marked another lukewarm month of hiring, the government said Friday in an employment report that suggested the economy probably will muddle along for some time with subpar growth.
The unemployment rate held steady at 7.8 percent in December as employers added 155,000 jobs.
The jobs gain fell in the range of the monthly average for all for 2012, which happened also to be the monthly average for 2011: 153,000. It means that hiring is on a steady trajectory, but it has a long way to go to make up for the jobs lost from 2008 to 2010.
By U-T San Diego
