Nationwide—In December, the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1% and the economy added 256,000 jobs, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over the course of 2024, the economy added 2.2 million jobs, while average hourly earnings increased by 3.9 percent. A recent report by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis found that, after adjusting for inflation, personal incomes rose in the third quarter of 2024, contributing to a rise in consumer spending.
“In 2024, the economy continued to stabilize, benefitting from public investments in the American Rescue Plan, Inflation Reduction Act, and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Nationally, workers won important new policy victories in 2024, including expanded eligibility for overtime pay, safeguards for workers misclassified as independent contractors, strong protections against non-compete contracts, and new safety standards for workers exposed to excessive indoor or outdoor heat, although many of these gains have been slowed or stopped by the courts. Across the country, some of the nation’s lowest-paid workers also won much-needed pay increases on January 1, 2025, as the minimum wage rose in 21 states and 48 cities and counties,” said Rebecca Dixon, president and CEO of the National Employment Law Project (NELP). “Yet the incoming administration’s proposals to roll back worker protections, give corporations more power, and increase attacks on immigrant workers and families will endanger any gains workers have made. Workers and their allies must redouble the fight to build a good-jobs economy.”
A recent publication by NELP and partner organizations highlighted policies that state policymakers can enact to lock in many of the worker protections that are threatened at the federal level.
The unemployment rate among Black workers in December was 6.1%, compared to 3.5% among Asian workers and 3.6% among white workers. For Latinx workers the unemployment rate was 5.1%. Continuing disparities in unemployment rates are a result of structural racism in the U.S. labor market, including persistent occupational segregation. Trump administration proposals to curtail civil rights protections and weaken workplace anti-discrimination tools would make it even more challenging to uproot these injustices.
The Unemployment Insurance Modernization and Recession Readiness Act, introduced last year by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Representative Don Beyer (D-VA), would support all workers in the event of an economic downturn during the next administration. The bill sets nationwide standards for UI, mandating that states offer at least 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, raising benefit amounts to replace a greater share of workers’ prior earnings, and increasing coverage for part-time workers, temp workers, and workers whose earnings fluctuate over time. The bill also establishes a new, federally funded Jobseekers Allowance to support jobless workers who would not otherwise be covered by unemployment insurance, and modernizes the Extended Benefits program that makes additional weeks of unemployment benefits available in times of high unemployment. State policymakers across the country should also act to improve their state unemployment insurance systems to better support workers and the economy.
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