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In December, the US economy added 292,000 jobs while the unemployment rate stayed steady at 5%.
In 2015, the economy added 2.7 million jobs, down from the 3.1 million jobs added in 2014.
Following the report US stock futures were rallying with Dow futures up 200 points, S&P 500 futures up 25, and Nasdaq futures up 60.
Wage growth, however, was a disappointment.
Wages were flat in December compared to the prior month and rose 2.5% against the prior year. Both numbers missed expectations.
Manufacturing jobs, which have been in focus as activity in the sector continues to show declines in various survey data, grew by 8,000 in December. Expectations were for 2,000 manufacturing jobs to be eliminated.
In a note following the report, Neil Dutta at Renaissance Macro said, "The big story is that despite strong job creation, the unemployment rate remains flat for the third consecutive month. This implies stronger potential growth."
Peter Tchir at Brean Capital called it a "stellar" report.
Via Bloomberg, here's what Wall Street was looking for:
- Nonfarm payrolls: +200,000
- Unemployment rate: 5%
- Average hourly earnings, month-on-month: +0.2%
- Average hourly earnings, year-on-year: 2.7%
- Average weekly hours worked: 34.5
More to come ...