The US added 223,000 jobs in December, another sign there's no recession yet

• The US added 223,000 jobs in December 2022, more than the job growth forecasted.
• The unemployment rate shrunk from 3.6% to 3.5% in December.
• Friday's labor market figures add to the evidence that the country wasn't in a recession in 2022.

Bureau of Labor Statistics data out Friday morning showed the US continued to add more jobs than expected in the last month of 2022.

Nonfarm payrolls climbed by 223,000 in December, lower than the revised gain in November, but exceeding the forecast of 200,000 according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

The increase in nonfarm payrolls in October and November were also revised. November's gain of 263,000 jobs was revised to 256,000. October's job growth of 284,000 noted in the previous data release was revised to 263,000 in Friday's release.

Most major industries saw job growth from November to December. Leisure and hospitality saw an increase of 67,000. Construction was another industry that saw employment growth, soaring by 28,000 from a month earlier. Professional and business services as well as the information sector saw small declines.

The unemployment rate was expected to be 3.7%, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. In December, the US unemployment rate fell from 3.6% to 3.5%. November's rate was revised down from 3.7%.

The labor force participation rate, which hasn't changed too much in recent months, rose slightly from 62.2% to 62.3%.

Wages are still rising but at a slower rate. Average hourly earnings climbed 4.6% year-over-year in December. That increase is smaller than the 4.8% year-over-year increase seen in November.

However, wage growth was more robust in the traditionally low-paying leisure and hospitality sector, which also notched notable job gains. It's another data point suggesting that as structural labor shortages persist, employers are still willing to shell out more to hire and retain low-wage workers – and those workers know they can quit for a better deal.

"This is very much aligned with the two track labor market — a slowing labor market at the very top for white collar workers and a still fairly robust labor market at the bottom for those frontline workers," Aaron Terrazas, chief economist at Glassdoor, told Insider. 

The new data adds to other economic data that there isn't a recession yet even as economists, CEOs, and others have been sharing their thoughts on it. Insider spoke to economists in December about a US recession, and one pointed to the robust job figures as to why there wasn't a recession yet.

"The reason we're not in a recession is that the labor market still is performing very well in the US economy," Ken Kim, a senior economist at KPMG, told Insider. "So people are still finding jobs and getting a paycheck and spending it on goods and services."

Other economic data outside of labor market figures, like consumer spending, also suggest the US isn't in a recession.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics also released job opening data on Wednesday as part of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). According to the new data, there were 10.5 million job openings in the US in November, similar to October's revised number of openings. And the preliminary layoff rate for November showed the rate was 0.9% for the third straight month, near the historic low. And people were still leaving jobs in high numbers, with over 4 million quits.

Based on JOLTS data, Nick Bunker, economic research director at Indeed Hiring Lab, wrote in a post earlier this week that the "labor market remains on fire."

"A labor market this strong means an imminent recession is highly improbable," Bunker wrote. "This year will pose many challenges for the US economy, but the labor market looks set to enter with considerable strength."

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.