Brian Snyder/Reuters
The final jobs report of 2017 will be released from the Bureau of Labor Statistics at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Economists forecast that 190,000 net nonfarm payrolls were added in December, according to Bloomberg. That would mark the 87th straight month that employers hired more people than they fired, extending the longest-ever stretch of job growth on record.
In November, the job market got a post-hurricane boost, with 228,000 reported payrolls, as workers who were displaced returned to their jobs.
"As these post-hurricane effects fade away, we expect the pace of payroll growth to slow in December but to remain robust," Morgan Stanley economists said in a preview.
Economists estimate that the unemployment remained at 4.1%, a 17-year low.
But the focus of Friday's report will be on wage growth. Average hourly earnings are estimated to grow 0.3% month-on-month and 2.5% year-on-year, little changed from November, and still reflecting the sluggish pay increases we've seen through much of the recovery.
With headline unemployment so low, employers should be competing for the best workers on pay. Some indicators like the Atlanta Fed’s alternative wage tracker do show this pay pressure. Also, the average hourly earnings are skewed as older, better paid workers retire and leave the equation.
Even after a slew of one-time bonus announcements since the President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, it may take a while for the lower corportate rate to trickle down to workers' pockets in a sustained way.
"Don’t expect to see much impact on either jobs or wages anytime soon from the tax bill," wrote Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor's chief economist, in a preview.
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