One ugly part of the US economy continues to bleed jobs
December's job report crushed it.
Data out of the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday showed the US economy added 292,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate held steady at 5%.
But one struggling American industry continues to bleed jobs: mining.
"Mining and logging employment decreased by 8,000 in December," according to the BLS report. "This was the industry's twelfth consecutive month of employment decline. Mining and logging has lost 131,000 jobs since December 2014."
"Mining drives the employment trend in this sector and accounts for essentially all losses over the month (-8,000) and over the year (-129,000)," the report added. "These losses were concentrated in support activities for mining."
Notably, "mining" includes the oil industry and, more specifically, the oil drillers. Given that oil prices have been low all year - and are still dropping - it's not unsurprising that jobs in that industry were hit hard over the past year.
This plunge looks particularly stunning relative to the service sector's strength, which you can see in the chart shared by Deutsche Bank's Torsten Sløk:
