Job market recovery still painfully slow

The labor market is continuing its agonizingly slow path toward recovery.

According to government figures released Friday, U.S. employers added 155,000 non-farm payroll jobs in December. Gains came in health care, manufacturing, food services and construction. This report is better than the 153,000 median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and worse than the 160,000 forecast by Dow Jones. 

Unemployment held at 7.8%, the lowest rate of the Obama administration. November's rate was revised from 7.7% to 7.8%.  Bloomberg's and Dow Jones' forecast called for the rate to fall to 7.7%.

Economists continue to expect the economy to make slow, steady progress in 2013. Growth, though, won't be much to brag about. The International Monetary Fund, for instance, expects U.S. growth of about 2.75% this year, up from 2.2% in 2012.

The revised November report may rekindle conspiracy theories advanced by ex-General Electric (GE) CEO Jack Welch and others that the Obama administration had kept the unemployment rate artificially low to garner support for his reelection. However, unemployment is calculated based on surveys of thousands of households, making it nearly impossible to rig.  Unemployment figures are often revised to insure their accuracy.

Otherwise, the report had few surprises.

Rebuilding from  Sandy resulted in a gain of 30,000 jobs.  Manufacturing jobs showed an increase of 25,000, the industry's best showing in months. The retail sector showed little change after posting a gain of 143,000 over the past 3 months. Holiday sales were weaker than many retailers  expected as shoppers were apparently spooked by the battle in Congress over the fiscal cliff.  Government employment was also flat.

Many experts see better times ahead for the U.S. economy. But the good times are coming so slowly that many people aren't seeing much of a difference.