A smaller-than-expected 157,000 new jobs were added to US payrolls in December as retailers surprisingly shed employees during the holiday shopping season, the Labor Department reported on Friday.
In 2004 as a whole, job creation was relatively strong in marked contrast to 2003 when jobs were lost.
Despite the fact that December came in below Wall Street economists' forecasts for 175,000 new jobs, it followed upwardly revised totals of 137,000 jobs in November and 312,000 in October.
Previously, the government said 112,000 jobs were created in November and 303,000 in October. The unemployment rate in December was unchanged at 5.4 percent.
There were job gains in every month during 2004 as a total 2.2 million new-employees were added to payrolls - a turnaround from 2003 when 61,000 jobs were lost overall - and the strongest performance since 1999 when some 3.2 million jobs were created.
The job gains were fairly broad-based in December, with the striking exception of retail trade where 19,600 jobs were lost.
Analysts had said before the report was issued that retailers were using fewer seasonal workers to handle the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas holiday sales season.