December jobs report shows a slowing U.S. economy; 8 million people working multiple jobs to survive

The goldilocks jobs report sent a thrill down the leg of investors as the financial markets recorded an exceptional rally.

All of the leading benchmark indexes were up more than one percent. The metals markets rallied, energy commodities posted gains, and crypto enjoyed a boost.

Why?

The U.S. economy added 223,000 new jobs in December, the fifth consecutive monthly slowdown. While this was higher than market estimates of 200,000, the headling was down from the 256,000 print in November.

The unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent, down from 3.6 percent.

But the real figure everyone was excited over was easing average hourly earnings.

On a year-over-year basis, average hourly earnings slowed to 4.6 percent in December, below the market estimate of five percent. Month-over-month, average hourly earnings rose at a less-than-expected pace of 0.3 percent.

Although real wage growth (inflation-adjusted) is still about negative two and negative three percent, investors think the Federal Reserve is winning the inflation fight, meaning that the central bank could turn slightly dovish in the coming year.

But while all the focus is on what the Fed will or will not do, everyone forgets about the average family.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) non-farm payrolls report revealed that more than eight million people are working two or more jobs, this is up from 7.7 million in November.

So, when inflation is still eating any job gains and the overall cost of living intensifies, hundreds of thousands of Americans every month are obtaining additional employment to keep up.

The other important data point is the divergence between the establishment and household surveys. The former counts every job a person possesses, while the latter only counts every job a person has as one.

The total figure? The establishment survey reported 223,000 jobs, and the household alternative reported 136,000.

Overall, the monthly jobs report shows a slowing economy, but, depending on what data you are monitoring, conditions are worse than what the mainstream media is reporting.