Labor Line

January 2026_________________________ 

Labor line has job news and commentary with a one stop short cut for America’s job markets and job related data including the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

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The BLS Establishment Job Report with data released January 9, 2026.

 Commentary From This Month’s Establishment Jobs Press Report Data

A POOR REPORT, BUT COULD BE WORSE

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published its January 9, 2026 report for jobs in December. The civilian population increased by an estimated 183 thousand for December but the labor force declined 46 thousand. The decline in the labor force resulted because the unemployed decreased by 278 thousand but 46 thousand of them stopped looking for work and left the labor force while only 232 thousand found employment. The large decrease in the unemployed and moderate increase in the employed combined to decrease the unemployment rate .1% to 4.4%. The participation rate decreased .1% to 62.4 percent.

The seasonally adjusted total of establishment employment was up 50 thousand for December. The increase was 58 thousand more jobs in the private service sector combined with a decrease of 21 thousand jobs from goods production. The total of 37 thousand jobs gained in the private sector combined with a(n) increase of 13 thousand government service jobs accounts for the total increase.

Goods production decreased by 21 thousand jobs with declines in all three subsectors. Natural resources dropped 2 thousand jobs and construction lost 11 thousand jobs where construction of buildings declined 5.4 thousand jobs. Nonresidential specialty trade contractors were down 8.9 thousand jobs offset by 1.1 thousand more jobs in residential specialty trade contractors. Heavy and engineering construction had 2.3 thousand new jobs to add to the total.

Manufacturing dropped another 8 thousand jobs with durable goods employment dropping a net of 3 thousand jobs. Only Transportation equipment managed to have a thousand new jobs but no durable goods manufacturing sub sectors did well; a majority of sub sectors lost jobs. Non-durable goods production also did poorly. Chemicals and plastic and rubber product manufacturing lost a combined 8 thousand jobs combined with other small job gains and losses leaving a job loss of 5 thousand jobs in nondurable goods.

Government service employment increased a net of 13 thousand jobs with the federal government employment up 2 thousand jobs. State government jobs were down 7 thousand while local government added 18 thousand jobs. State and local government jobs excluding education increased a net 12.9 thousand; state public education was down 4.3 thousand jobs, local government education was up 2.7 thousand jobs. Private sector education added 2.1 thousand jobs, which brings the total of education to an increase of 500 seasonally adjusted jobs.

Leisure and hospitality took first place among private sector job gains with 47.4 thousand new seasonally adjusted jobs, the first time in months. Arts, entertainment and recreation had 17.4 thousand of the jobs with amusements, gambling and recreation having 14.1 thousand of that total. Accommodations added 3 thousand jobs while restaurants picked up 27.2 thousand more jobs, following last month’s decline.

Health care took second place for private service sector job gains with 38 thousand new jobs, a small increase. All four of the health care subsectors had more jobs but generally smaller than usual amounts. Ambulatory care adding only 4.6 thousand jobs; hospitals did well adding 16.3 thousand jobs but nursing and residential care had just 200 new jobs. Social assistance services added 17.4 thousand jobs with individual and family services adding 13.0 thousand of social service jobs. The growth rate for health care was down from last month to 1.96 percent, above the average of 2.25 percent per month of the last 15 years.

Professional and business services lost a net 9 thousand jobs, a decrease that is becoming a monthly event. The professional and technical services subsector was down 7.7 thousand jobs, another poor month; management of companies had 800 more jobs. The third sub sector, administrative and support services including waste management, lost 1.5 thousand jobs in another poor month for support services.

Among professional and technical services, architectural and engineering services added 2.3 thousand new jobs, down from last month; legal services added 2 thousand jobs. Management, scientific and technical consulting added only 800 jobs. Otherwise, computer systems design and related services lost 3.9 thousand jobs and no other professional services did well. Among administrative support services, services to buildings and dwellings were up 7.8 thousand jobs but offset by job losses in employment services, down 10.9 thousand jobs with temporary help services down 5.7 thousand of that total, a sixth month for these job losses.

Trade, transportation and utilities had a net loss of 33 thousand jobs where wholesale and retail trade had job losses: wholesale down 2 thousand, retail down 25 thousand. Modal transportation had a net job increase of 6.6 thousand jobs, but jobs as couriers and messengers were off a thousand jobs and warehousing and storage dropped another 7.2 thousand jobs. Utilities picked up 800 jobs, an unusual increase.

Information services had no net change in jobs, but telecommunications had an unusual increase of 10.6 thousand jobs. All other sub sectors lost jobs such as the publishing and motion picture and sound recording. No other information sub sectors did well. Financial activities including real estate and rental and leasing services had a net gain of 7 thousand jobs. Finance and insurance were up 1.6 thousand jobs where securities and investment counseling had 3.1 thousand new jobs offset with small job losses in banking and insurance. The real estate sub sector added 2.3 thousand jobs with 2.2 thousand more jobs in rental and leasing services. The category, other, had 5.3 thousand new jobs with personal and laundry services up 1.9 thousand jobs and non-profit associations sub sector adding 3.2 thousand jobs. Repair and maintenance services increased slightly, adding 200 jobs.

The economy added just 50 thousand jobs for December, low but still a positive increase. Establishment employment in December was 159.526 million with an annual growth rate of just .38 percent, too low to sustain full employment. The health care increase this month is much too small to sustain essential establishment employment. The United States must maintain health care and health care employment to sustain total employment. Only leisure and hospitality and real estate and rental services added normal employment this month while the majority of other sub sectors lost jobs. This month leisure and hospitality had 94 percent of the total increase in jobs. Professional jobs outside of health care returned to decreasing and show no sign of turning around. This month’s job total is only 476 thousand above December a year ago and 2.477 million jobs above December two years ago.  The 476 thousand number is even lower than last month. It should be well over a million.

December Details 

Jobs

Total Non-Farm Establishment Jobs up 50,000 to 159,526,000

Total Private Jobs up 37,000 to 136,115,000

Total Government Employment up 13,000 to 23,411,000 Note 

Civilian Non-Institutional Population up 183 thousand to 274,816,000

Civilian Labor Force down 46 thousand to 171,495,000

Employed up 232 thousand to 163,992,000

Employed Men up 196 thousand to 86,812,000

Employed Women up 36 thousand to 77,180,000

Unemployed down 278 thousand to 7,503,000

Not in the Labor Force up 229 thousand to 103,321,000

Unemployment Rate went down .1% to 4.4% 7,503/171,495

Labor Force Participation Rate went down .1% to 62.4%, or 171,495/274,816

Summaries by Industry

Non Farm Total +50

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Non-Farm employment for establishments increased from November by 50 thousand jobs for a(n) December total of 159.526 million. (Note 1 below) An increase of 50 thousand each month for the next 12 months represents an annual growth rate of +.38% The annual growth rate from a year ago beginning December 2024 was +.37%; the average annual growth rate from 5 years ago beginning December 2020 was +2.28%; from 15 years ago beginning December 2010 it was +1.33%. The higher five year growth rate derives from the low Pandemic employment. America needs growth around 1.5 percent a year to keep itself employed.

Sector breakdown for 12 Sectors in 000’s of jobs 

1. Natural Resources -2

Natural Resources jobs including logging and mining decreased 2 thousand from November with 608 thousand jobs in December. A decrease of 2 thousand jobs each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of -3.93 percent.   Natural resource jobs were down 16 thousand from a year ago. Jobs in 2000 averaged around 600 thousand with little prospect for growth.  This is the smallest of 12 major sectors of the economy with .4 percent of establishment jobs.

2. Construction -11

Construction jobs were down 11 thousand from November with 8.303 million jobs in December. A decrease of 11 thousand jobs each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of -1.59 percent.  Construction jobs are up 14 thousand for the 12 months just ended. The growth rate for the last 15 years is 2.83%. Construction jobs rank 9th among the 12 sectors with 5.2 percent of non-farm employment.

3. Manufacturing -8

Manufacturing jobs were down 8 thousand from November with 12.692 million jobs in December. A decrease of 8 thousand jobs each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of -.76 percent.  Manufacturing jobs were down for the last 12 months by 68 thousand. The growth rate for the last 15 years is +.60%. Manufacturing ranks 6th among 12 major sectors in the economy with 8.0 percent of establishment jobs.

4. Trade, Transportation & Utility -33

Trade, both wholesale and retail, transportation and utility employment were down 33 thousand jobs from November with 28.966 million jobs in December. A decrease of 33 thousand jobs each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of -1.37 percent. Jobs are up by 67 thousand for last 12 months. Growth rates for the last 15 years are +1.05 percent. Jobs in these sectors rank first as the biggest sectors with combined employment of 18.2 percent of total establishment employment.

5. Information Services +0

Information Services jobs stayed the same from November with 2.914 million jobs in December.  (Note 2 below)  Jobs are down by 30 thousand for the last 12 months. Information jobs reached 3.7 million at the end of 2000, but started dropping, reaching 3 million by 2004 but has stayed close to 3.0 million in the last decade. Information Services is a small sector ranking 11th of 12 with 1.8 percent of establishment jobs.

6. Financial Activities +7

Financial Activities jobs were up by 7 thousand jobs from November to 9.244 million in December. An increase of 7 thousand jobs for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +.91 percent. Jobs are up 38 thousand for the last 12 months.  (Note 3 below) This sector also includes real estate as well as real estate lending. The 15 year growth rate is +1.24 percent. Financial activities rank 8th of 12 with 5.8 percent of establishment jobs.

7. Business and Professional Services -9

Business and Professional Service jobs went down 9 thousand from November to 22.517 million in December. A decrease of 9 thousand each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of -.48 percent. Jobs are down 97 thousand for the last 12 months. Note 4 The annual growth rate for the last 15 years was +1.88 percent. It ranks as 2nd among the 12 sectors now. It was 2nd in 1993, when manufacturing was bigger and third rank now with 14.2 percent of establishment employment. 

8. Education including public and private +1

Education jobs were up 1 thousand jobs from November at 14.826 million in December. An increase of 1 thousand jobs each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +.04 percent. These include public and private education. Jobs are up 18 thousand for the last 12 months. (note 5) The 15 year growth rate equals +.61 percent. Education ranks 5th among 12 sectors with 9.3 percent of establishment jobs.

9. Health Care +38

Health care jobs were up 38 thousand from November to 23.652 million in December. An increase of 38 thousand each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +1.96 percent. Jobs are up 713 thousand for the last 12 months. (note 6)  The health care long term 15-year growth rate has been +2.25 percent lately compared to +1.96 percent for this month’s jobs. Health care ranks 2nd of 12 with 14.5 percent of establishment jobs.

10. Leisure and hospitality +47

Leisure and hospitality jobs were up 47 thousand from November to 17.167 million in December.  (note 7) An increase of 47 thousand each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +3.29 percent. Jobs are up 188 thousand for the last 12 months. More than 80 percent of leisure and hospitality are accommodations and restaurants assuring that most of the new jobs are in restaurants. Leisure and hospitality ranks 4th of 12 with 10.7 percent of establishment jobs. It moved up to 7th from 4th in the pandemic decline.

11. Other +5

Other Service jobs, which include repair, maintenance, personal services and non-profit organizations were up 5 thousand from November to 6.064 million in December. An increase of 5 thousand each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +.99 percent. Jobs are up 62 thousand for the last 12 months. (Note 8) Other services had +.86 percent growth for the last 15 years. These sectors rank 10th of 12 with 3.8 percent of total non-farm establishment jobs.

12. Government, excluding education +15

Government service employment went up 15 thousand from November at 12.573 million jobs in December. An increase of 15 thousand each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +1.42 percent. Jobs are down 171 thousand for the last 12 months.  (note 9) Government jobs excluding education tend to increase slowly with a 15 year growth rate of +.36 percent. Government, excluding education, ranks 7th of 12 with 8.0 percent of total non-farm establishment jobs.

Prices and inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all Urban Consumers was up by a monthly average of 2.9 percent for 2024. 

 The CPI December report for the 12 months ending with November shows the 

 CPI for All Items was up 2.7% 

CPI for Food and Beverages was up 2.6% 

CPI for Housing was up 3.5% 

CPI for Apparel was up .2% 

CPI for Transportation including gasoline was up 1.6% 

CPI for Medical Care was up 2.9% 

CPI for Recreation was up 1.8% 

CPI for Education was up 2.9% 

CPI for Communication was up .3% 

Sector Notes__________________________

(1) The total cited above is non-farm establishment employment that counts jobs and not people. If one person has two jobs then two jobs are counted. It excludes agricultural employment and the self employed. Out of a total of people employed agricultural employment typically has about 1.5 percent, the self employed about 6.8 percent, the rest make up wage and salary employment. Jobs and people employed are close to the same, but not identical numbers because jobs are not the same as people employed: some hold two jobs. Remember all these totals are jobs. back

(2) Information Services is part of the new North American Industry Classification System(NAICS). It includes firms or establishments in publishing, motion picture & sound recording, broadcasting, Internet publishing and broadcasting, telecommunications, ISPs, web search portals, data processing, libraries, archives and a few others.back

(3) Financial Activities includes deposit and non-deposit credit firms, most of which are still known as banks, savings and loan and credit unions, but also real estate firms and general and commercial rental and leasing.back

(4) Business and Professional services includes the professional areas such as legal services, architecture, engineering, computing, advertising and supporting services including office services, facilities support, services to buildings, security services, employment agencies and so on.back

(5) Education includes private and public education. Therefore education job totals include public schools and colleges as well as private schools and colleges. back

(6) Health care includes ambulatory care, private hospitals, nursing and residential care, and social services including child care. back

(7) Leisure and hospitality has establishment with arts, entertainment and recreation which has performing arts, spectator sports, gambling, fitness centers and others, which are the leisure part. The hospitality part has accommodations, motels, hotels, RV parks, and full service and fast food restaurants. back

(8) Other is a smorgasbord of repair and maintenance services, especially car repair, personal services and non-profit services of organizations like foundations, social advocacy and civic groups, and business, professional, labor unions, political groups and political parties. back

(9) Government job totals include federal, state, and local government administrative work but without education jobs. back

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Notes

Jobs are not the same as employment because jobs are counted once but one person could have two jobs adding one to employment but two to jobs. Also the employment numbers include agricultural workers, the self employed, unpaid family workers, household workers and those on unpaid leave. Jobs are establishment jobs and non-other. back

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Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn

Christopher Cox, Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn, (NY: Simon & Shuster, 2024), ISBN 978-1-6680-1078-5

This new biography of Woodrow Wilson gets its subtitle from the first line of the John Greenleaf Whittier poem “Ichabod.”

So Fallen! So lost! The light withdrawn

Which once he wore!

The Glory from his gray hairs gone

Forevermore!

Biographies of presidents typically emphasize their time in office and the political events they pursue, but this biography concentrates on racial and gender discrimination during Woodrow Wilson’s life and how he addressed them before and after he became president The book covers 495 pages with the narrative partitioned into four parts. Part I begins with a summary discussion of the early crusade against slavery and women’s suffrage movement before turning to Wilson’s 1856 birth, early life, education, a brief year practicing law, marriage and accepting faculty posts teaching at Bryn Mawr, Wesleyan University, and Princeton University; he accepted the Princeton Board’s offer to be their president in June 1902.

Other Wilson biographies write extensively of his legislative record: the Federal Reserve Act, Clayton Antitrust Act, Federal Trade Commission Act, and progressive income tax, but none of that appears in this Cox biography. Instead, the narrative through the book emphasizes the documented record of Wilson’s personal relations with family and friends and with university scholars and politicians, both his supporters and detractors. Beginning with his academic years he published books of history and politics in 1885, 1889, 1893, 1897, and 1902. Cox scoured these works and Wilson’s other writing, archival letters, relationships, and associations. The narrative returns repeatedly to the published record of his racial views and his decades long opposition to woman’s suffrage.

The chapters of Part I offer a sampling of Woodrow Wilson’s views during Reconstruction and the early Jim Crow south. He predicts the right to vote without regard to race would “make the ‘disintegration of southern society’ and the ‘irretrievable’ alienation of ‘the white men of the South,’ its ‘real leaders.’” In his History of the American People he explained “It is ‘the mere instinct of self-preservation’ that forced ‘the white men of the South’ to do everything within their power to restore white supremacy ‘by means fair or foul.’”  Wilson’s apologizes for the Ku Klux Klan admitting “the Klansmen ‘took the law into their own hands,’ but undertook ‘by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot.’” He concluded the Klan was “really ‘for the mere pleasure of association, for private amusement.’” Cox provides a thorough narrative of his discomfort and unlikely appointment to teach at Bryn Mawr, a women’s college. Bryn Mawr documents an early episode of a long trail of evidence documenting Wilson’s refusal to accept women as equals.

Part II offers a discussion of him as Princeton President, elected Governor of New Jersey and first term as president. His years in politics forced him to take positions and make decisions on race and woman’s suffrage rather than write or ventilate about them. Cox quotes Wilson as telling his gubernatorial campaign manager he was “definitely and irreconcilably opposed to woman suffrage” and that “woman’s place was in the home.” His writing and documented decisions find him opposed to admitting black men to Princeton, opposing unions, opposing immigrants and purging the federal government of black employees while arranging to have the racist film “Birth of a Nation” shown at the White House.

Available evidence permits Cox to give readers an idea of Wilson in his personal life. Hundreds of letters survive to and from his two wives, Ellen Axxon and Edith Galt, and a third relationship with Mary Peck Hulbert. In letters to Ellen, he wrote “Marriage alone was a woman’s ‘essential condition’ for the performance of her ‘proper duties.’” Readers learn Wilson leaves on vacations without Ellen such as one to Bermuda where he meets Mary Peck and starts an indeterminate relationship of eight years documented with 700 letters. We learn of the personal Wilson, a man of “immutable routines,” who enjoys taking afternoon drives and plays golf as part of his daily schedule, finishing 1,200 rounds of golf as president.

Part III, entitled Holding Back the Tide, covers December 1916 to December 1917, a period that energized the Women’s suffrage movement with intensified political pressure to secure national voting rights. Cox covers their campaign thoroughly. Readers meet many women, the groups they organize and the protest marches and demonstrations they conduct. During this period, Wilson reversed his pledge to keep America out of WWI. He prevailed on Congress to declare war to make the world “Safe for Democracy” while simultaneously demanding to silence opposition to American entry into WWI in a well-documented campaign of repression and censorship. During this period the war became an excuse for Wilson to repress and censor woman demonstrating for voting rights. Cox narrates Wilson’s deliberate use of arrest, intimidation and violence to end street protest that included periods of physical abuse in jails and forced feeding of hunger strikers.

Part IV has the remaining years of his second term. By this time women had the right to vote in 13 states, including New York, increasing the political risk to Democratic party opponents of voting. Then Republicans took over the House and Senate in the November 1918 election. When WWI ended November 11, Wilson insisted on going to Paris to negotiate the peace treaty and establish a League of Nations instead of staying home to confront domestic turmoil, especially passing a federal budget, inflation and violent race riots. Cox tells the remaining story of Wilson maneuvering within his administration and his posturing in the House and Senate in the political fight to secure voting rights for woman. Cox gives details of the Congressional debate and final votes in June 1919. Tennessee became the last state to ratify the Susan B. Anthony Amendment that finally became part of the U.S. Constitution August 18, 1920. The narrative ends here, or rather just stops.

Over many years I have read dozens of biographies of Presidents including Woodrow Wilson. None I know of leave out so much of their political record to focus on the man and the ethical principles that drive their decisions and their conduct as this biography. Any illusion that Woodrow Wilson was a confident, accepting and fair-minded gentleman disappears in this Cox biography. The glory from his gray hairs gone. Forevermore!