The jobless rate in the USA rose to 7.2 percent in December, the highest in 16 years.  Official employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was full of gloomy reading apart from the health care sector, which added jobs in December.

In December, job losses were large and widespread across most major industries.   Most job losses for the month were in the service sector, which shed 273,000 jobs.  Manufacturing employment fell by 149,000, the largest month on month decline since August 2001. Employment in construction fell by 101,000 and retailers cut staff by 67,000.

Bucking the trend, health care employment continued to grow in December (32,000), with month on month job gains in ambulatory services (14,000) and hospitals (12,000).  In 2008, the health care industry added 372,000 jobs.

The average weekly hours worked in December fell by 0.2 hours to 33.3 hours; the lowest level since records began in 1964.

“The drop in average hours worked in this employment report suggests that the first quarter is going to be very, very weak,” said Cary Leahey, economist at Decision Economics.

For those in work, over the past 12 months average weekly earnings rose 2.2 percent.   The information industry, which lost 20,000 jobs in December, recorded the largest annual increase in weekly earnings at 11 percent.

December 2008 earnings not seasonally adjusted