Goods-producing sectors, which also include mining and logging, wholesale trade, and transport and warehouse struggled over the past year.

Economists say the last jobs report of the year could shed new light on what workers still need information on about the market.

U.S. employers added 50,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate edged down as the job market stayed in its low hiring, low-firing limbo.

Friday's release of the December jobs report revealed that the U.S. labor market is holding up "reasonably well" and "finding a tenuous equilibrium marked by light hiring and firing in parallel," said Jason Pride,

Where the jobs market is headed will play into where interest rates go this year. This week is chock-full of employment data that should help investors and policymakers alike gauge the general state of employment, all before Friday’s big jobs report.

Forecasters believe U.S. employment numbers expanded modestly in December, extending a streak of labor market weakness that has prompted the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates several times.

The U.S. labor market is expected to have turned in its weakest performance in 2025 since the pandemic-era recession, despite upbeat estimates for December job gains.

Does the jobs market have one more 2025 surprise to deliver, with the December nonfarm payrolls? In the past year, we've seen: A massive downward revision in job numbers prompted President Trum

The December gains, along with a revision to November, could mean the labor market has stabilized. Employers added 41,000 jobs in December, according to a monthly survey of company hiring from private payroll processor ADP released on Wednesday. Economists had expected a gain of 45,000 jobs after November’s upwardly revised 29,000 loss.