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Economy Adds 155,000 Jobs: ‘Slow and Steady’ Recovery

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The U.S. economy added 155,000 payrolls in December, pretty much right in line with expectations. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.8%.

What does the report reveal about the state of the economy?

It's "kind of slow and steady" says Yahoo! Finance senior columnist Michael Santoli in the accompanying video.

"I think you can have some kind of comfort in the fact that this is the trend," he adds. "It is not kind of a blip."

To that point, Santoli does not see the jobless rate jumping back above 8% over the next year.

Industries that were hiring last month included: health care, manufacturing, and food and beverage establishments. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 12.2 million people were unemployed in December. The BLS included two revisions in its report: 1,000 fewer jobs were added in October and the total number of jobs created in November was revised up to 161,000 from 146,000.

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