#usnonfarmpayrollreport

The latest U.S. non-agricultural payroll report surprised the market with only 50,000 new jobs created in December, significantly below expectations and marking the weakest labor growth year since the pandemic, although the unemployment rate fell to 4.4%. This pattern suggests a labor market that continues to expand, but at a moderate pace, sending two key signals to central banks: first, employment growth that does not overheat wages reduces inflationary pressure, and second, it creates room for the Federal Reserve to keep rates unchanged or delay future cuts, balancing inflation and growth. On the macro level, this data paints an economic picture that is not in technical recession, but rather in a phase of structural slowdown, forcing policymakers to carefully calibrate their future decisions.