Key Takeaways The job market improved by one measure but stayed relatively slow in December. U.S. employers added 50,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate edged down to 4.4% from a downwardly-revised 4.5% in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. The relatively slow job growth was slightly below the downwardly-revised 56,000 added in November, and was less than the 73,000 jobs forecasters had expected. Additionally, the unemployment rate was lower than the 4.5% forecast according to ...