US hiring grows at robust pace, indicating Trump will inherit healthy economy
The Federal Reserve Board Building. Via Douglas Rissing/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. hiring grew at a robust pace in December, far exceeding economists’ expectations and demonstrating the health of the nation’s economy days before it transfers to the stewardship of President-elect Donald Trump.
Employers added 256,000 workers last month, surpassing economist expectations of 155,000 jobs added, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data on Friday showed. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%, which is historically low.
The findings could help determine whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates when officials meet later this month.
The figure marked an acceleration from the previous month. In November, employers added a solid 227,000 jobs.
U.S. hiring has defied doomsayers for much of President Joe Biden’s term in office. Stubborn inflation, high interest rates and a contentious presidential campaign have proven no match for a resilient labor market.
Alongside steady hiring, inflation has eased and the economy has expanded, giving rise to hope that the U.S. can achieve a soft landing.
Inflation has slowed dramatically from a peak of more than 9% in June 2022, but price increases remain higher than the Fed’s target of 2%. The pace of price increases has ticked up in recent months.
The Fed dialed back its fight against inflation over the final months of last year, lowering interest rates by a percentage point. Still, the Fed’s interest rate remains at a historically high level of between 4.25% and 4.5%.
Last month, the Fed predicted fewer rate cuts in 2025 than it had previously indicated, suggesting concern that inflation may prove more difficult to bring under control than policymakers thought just a few months ago.
A solid jobs report that matches economists’ expectations could give the Fed more reason to delay interest rate cuts, since such a sign of economic strength may ease concern that a continuation of high interest rates would tip the economy into a downturn.
Instead, the Fed could wait and see if inflation falls closer to target levels, while remaining somewhat assured that the labor market will remain sturdy.
If the jobs report falls short of economists’ expectations, however, central bankers may view potential interest rate cuts with a heightened sense of urgency.
Speaking at a press conference in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank may proceed at a slower pace with future rate cuts, in part because it has now lowered interest rates a substantial amount.
Powell also said a recent resurgence of inflation influenced the Fed’s expectations, noting that some policymakers considered uncertainty tied to potential policy changes under Trump.
“It’s common-sense thinking that when the path is uncertain, you get a little slower,” Powell said. “It’s not unlike driving on a foggy night or walking around in a dark room full of furniture.”
Trump has proposed tariffs of between 60% and 100% on Chinese goods, and a tax of between 10% and 20% on every product imported from all U.S. trading partners.
Economists widely forecast that tariffs of this magnitude would increase prices paid by U.S. shoppers, since importers typically pass along a share of the cost of those higher taxes to consumers.
(NEW YORK) — For the first time in days, the Northeast was under no red flag warnings, but officials cautioned that fire danger in the region remains high as drought conditions persist.
All red flag warnings, which signal critical fire weather conditions like strong winds and low relative humidity, were lifted throughout the Northeast Saturday evening as conditions improved following days of wildfires that broke out across New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
The biggest wildfire in the Northeast remains the Jennings Creek Fire, burning on the border of New York’s Orange County and New Jersey’s Passaic County. The fire, which has burned more than 5,000 acres, prompted hundreds of voluntary evacuations Saturday night when it jumped a containment line near Greenwood Lake and threatened homes in the private beach community of Wah-ta-Wah Park, according to New York State Parks Department spokesperson Jeff Wernick.
The Jennings Creek Fire was 88% contained on the New York side and 90% contained on the New Jersey side, officials said.
The blaze broke out Nov. 9 and burned drought-parched wildland stretching from West Milford in Passaic County, New Jersey, to the Sterling Forest State Park in New York’s Orange County, and on both the New York and New Jersey sides of Greenwood Lake, officials said.
The cause of the Jennings Creek Fire remains under investigation.
A New York State Parks and Recreation employee was killed earlier this month while helping the battle the Jennings Creek Fire, officials said. The deceased parks employee was identified by the New York State Police as 18-year-old Dariel Vasquez.
Wind gusts, which have helped fan the fire, are forecast to be lighter on Sunday, peaking at 15 to 25 mph, and relative humidity is expected to be slightly higher, allowing for some relief for firefighters. Temperatures will also top out around 10 to 20 degrees above average on Sunday and Monday, with temperatures rising to the low to mid 60s.
But the prolonged period of dry weather is expected to persist with no measurable rainfall expected in the Northeast until possibly Wednesday or Thursday. While any rain is beneficial, there is an increasing chance for an inch or more of rain from the upcoming storm, with some higher-elevation snow also possible in New England late in the week.
Since Oct. 1, New Jersey firefighters have responded to at least 537 wildfires that have consumed 4,500 acres, according to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, while officials at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said New York fire crews have battled 60 wildfires since Oct. 1 that have burned 2,100 acres.
At one point last week, the National Weather Service had issued numerous red flag fire danger warnings throughout New Jersey and New York. At least 15 New York counties were under red flag warnings last week, including New York City and all of Long Island.
Multiple wildfires broke out across the Northeast, including some in New York City, where one ignited in the Inwood neighborhood of upper Manhattan and another scorched wooded land in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.
Due to the high fire danger, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a statewide ban on outdoor fires.
Elsewhere in the country, a developing storm system in the Southern Plains is forecast to bring a severe weather threat to parts of Texas and Oklahoma on Sunday and Monday.
On Sunday afternoon and into the evening, strong to severe storms are likely in cities across Texas, including Wichita Falls, Abilene and Midland. The thunderstorms are also expected to bring damaging wind, large hail and scattered tornadoes.
Severe weather is also forecast for Monday in the Oklahoma City area and Waco, Texas. A flood watch is in effect from northern Texas through Oklahoma until Monday evening, with 2 to 5 inches of rain likely.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden, former presidents and other dignitaries are gathering Thursday for a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., to honor the life of former President Jimmy Carter.
Biden is expected to deliver a eulogy for Carter, who died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100.
‘Unshakable sense of right and wrong’
Stuart Eizenstat, who was former President Jimmy Carter’s chief domestic policy adviser, praised Carter’s “unshakable sense of right and wrong.”
“His faith brought integrity to the presidency after Watergate and Vietnam,” Eizenstat recalled. “‘I will never lie to you,’ he promised the American people — a vow he fulfilled.”
Carter is known for his deep faith, and Eizenstat noted how Carter’s “faith respected other religions — he was the first president to light a Hanukkah menorah and he created the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.”
“This president from the deepest part of the Deep South championed civil rights, appointing more people of color and women to senior executive positions and judgeships than all previous 38 presidents,” he said.
“President Carter parked politics at the Oval Office door, to do what he believed was the right thing — tackling controversial challenges regardless of the political consequences. Much of his agenda passed with bipartisan support, a quaint notion in today’s hyper-polarized politics,” Eizenstat said.
Walter Mondale’s son delivers his father’s eulogy
Former President Jimmy Carter’s vice president, Walter Mondale, left behind a eulogy for Carter before he died in 2021.
Mondale’s son, Ted Mondale, delivered that eulogy at Thursday’s service.
The two became close friends and established a person relationship that continued throughout their life, Walter Mondale said.
“While we had only four years in the White House, he achieved so much in that time,” Walter Mondale wrote. “It stood as a marker for Americans dedicated to justice and decency.”
“Carter was far-sighted — he put aside his short-term political interests to tackle challenges that demanded sacrifice to protect our kids and grandkids from future harm,” he wrote. “Very few people in the 1970s had heard the term climate change. Yet Carter put his presidency on the line to pass laws to conserve energy, deregulate new oil and gas prices, and invest in clean, renewable alternatives to fossil fuels. … In many ways, he laid the foundation for future presidents to come to grips with climate change.”
“All of us know President Carter elevated human rights to the top of his agenda, but sometimes we forget how seriously he pushed to advance the rights of women. He proposed and signed the law extending the period for states to approve the Equal Rights Amendment, which now, finally, has been ratified by three quarters of the states,” he wrote.
“Toward the end of our time in the White House, the President and I were talking about how we might describe what we tried to do,” Walter Mondale wrote. “We came up with this sentence, which to me remains an important summary of what we were trying to do: ‘We told the truth, we obeyed the law and we kept the peace.'”
President Ford’s son delivers his father’s eulogy
Former President Gerald Ford, who lost the 1976 election to former President Jimmy Carter, later forged a friendship with Carter, and the two agreed to leave eulogies for each other.
Ford died in 2006 at the age of 93.
Ford’s son Steven Ford, read his father’s eulogy at Carter’s service.
But first, Steven Ford shared his own message, saying he is praying for the Carter children. It was 18 years ago, nearly to the day, Steven Ford said, that his family sat in that same row at the cathedral and the Carters supported his family.
“It was your dad and his great faith that supported my mom and gave her hope,” he said to the Carter children.
President Ford said in the eulogy he left for Carter, “Jimmy and I forged a friendship that transcends politics. We immediately decided to exercise one of the privileges of a former president, forgetting that either one of us had ever said any harsh words about the other one in the heat of battle. Then we got on to much more enjoyable subjects: discussing our families, our faith and sharing our experiences in discovering that there is indeed life after the White House.”
“The American people and the people of the world will be forever blessed by his decades of good works,” President Ford wrote.
To President Carter, President Ford said, “Looking forward to our reunion — we have much to catch up on.”
Carter’s grandson remembers his Sunday school lessons
At the service, former President Jimmy Carter’s grandson Josh Carter recalled his grandfather’s weekly packed Sunday school classes in Plains, Georgia.
He said his grandfather would always poll the congregation and learn people came from all over the country, with diverse backgrounds and beliefs.
“If he stopped a conflict, he talked about it. If he eliminated disease from a village or a country, he would talk about it,” Josh Carter said. “When my brother Jeremy died, he announced that news at Sunday school. In fact, I remember that my brother died on a Sunday because it was the only time my grandfather was ever late to teach.”
“He stated the most serious and universal problem on our planet is the growing chasm between the richest and poorest people on Earth,” he said. “For the next two decades, as the problem compounded, he returned to this theme with stories from the Bible and stories from today.”
“Many of the people that my grandparents helped lived on less than $1 a day,” he said. “My grandfather spent the entire time I’ve known him helping those in need. He built houses for people that needed homes. He eliminated diseases. … He waged peace. … He loved people.”
Harris, Biden arrive
Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff are seated in front of President-elect Donald Trump.
The two did not appear to interact.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are also at the cathedral.
Clintons, Bushes arrive
Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are sitting next to former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush.
Laura Bush sat next to former President Barack Obama, who continued a lengthy conversation with President-elect Donald Trump.
Obama arrives, speaks with Trump
Former President Barack Obama arrived at the service and exchanged a long handshake and a laugh with former Vice President Al Gore.
Obama then sat directly next to Trump and the two exchanged words, both smiling.
Trump arrives, greets Pence
President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump have arrived at the service.
Trump shook hands and exchanged brief words with his former Vice President Mike Pence.
Hearse arrives at Washington National Cathedral
Former President Jimmy Carter’s hearse has arrived at Washington National Cathedral for the 10 a.m. service.
Mike Pence, Al Gore arrive at service
Former Vice Presidents Al Gore and Mike Pence have arrived at Washington National Cathedral for the 10 a.m. service.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Vice President-elect JD Vance were also seen at the service.
Carter’s casket leaves US Capitol for final time
Former President Jimmy Carter’s casket has left the U.S. Capitol for the final time. Carter had been lying in state at the Capitol since Tuesday.
His motorcade will now head to Washington National Cathedral for a 10 a.m. service.
An emotional, weeklong goodbye
The emotional, weeklong public goodbye to former President Jimmy Carter began on Saturday when a motorcade carried his remains from his hometown of Plains, Georgia, to Atlanta.
Family, friends and employees of the Carter Presidential Center congregated at the center in Atlanta for a Saturday afternoon ceremony. Carter’s son Chip Carter addressed the mourners and thanked his late parents for their service and sacrifice.
The public was then invited to pay their respects at the Carter Presidential Center from Saturday through Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Carter’s body was transported Washington, D.C., and a service was held at the Capitol. Carter lied in state at the Capitol on Wednesday.
On Thursday afternoon, following the Washington National Cathedral funeral, Carter will return to his hometown of Plains for a private service and private interment.
Motorcade makes emotional stop at Navy Memorial Former President Jimmy Carter’s motorcade made an emotional stop at the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C., to honor Carter’s service as a lieutenant in the Navy.
Carter’s childhood dream was to be in the Navy and he went on to graduate from the United States Naval Academy in 1946. Carter resigned from the Navy in 1953 after his father’s death so he could return to the family farm.
Carter’s casket was transferred from the hearse to a horse-drawn military caisson for a funeral procession that reproduces the walk Carter took with his family on the day of his inauguration. On that January day in 1977, Carter walked the mile-and-a-half inaugural parade route to the White House, rather than ride in a limousine, bringing a common touch to his presidency.
Navy officers stood silently along the snow-lined street, witnessing the casket’s transfer to the caisson.
The Carter family will walk behind the casket as it heads from the U.S. Navy Memorial to the U.S. Capitol.
Motorcade leaves Joint Base Andrews
Former President Jimmy Carter’s motorcade has left Joint Base Andrews in Maryland en route to Washington, D.C., to begin several days of services in the nation’s capital.
Carter lands in DC
A plane carrying the Carter family and the casket of former President Jimmy Carter has landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for several days of ceremonies in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Navy Memorial will be the first stop for the motorcade to honor Carter’s service as a lieutenant in the Navy.
Carter en route from Georgia to DC
The Carter family is accompanying former President Jimmy Carter’s remains on a flight from Georgia’s Dobbins Air Reserve Base to Washington, D.C. for the late president’s final journey to the nation’s capital.
“Hail to the Chief” was played and troops fired a 21-gun salute after the coffin was taken out of the hearse. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was among the officials at the base to witness the coffin’s transfer from the hearse to the plane.
Carter is survived by four children — John William (Jack), James Earl III (Chip), Donnel Jeffrey (Jeff) and Amy Lynn — and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The flight will land in the D.C. area around 2 p.m.
The late president’s first stop in snowy D.C. will be the U.S. Navy Memorial to honor his time in the service.
That will be followed by a 4:30 p.m. ET service at the U.S. Capitol, which will be
Carter leaves Carter Presidential Center for final time
Former President Jimmy Carter is leaving the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta for the final time Tuesday morning as Carter Center employees and their families look on.
The former president had been lying in repose at the center since Saturday, allowing the public to come pay their respects.
At a Saturday service at the Carter Presidential Center, Carter’s son Chip Carter thanked his parents for their service and sacrifice.
“The two of them together changed the world,” he said, overcome with emotion.
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter founded the Carter Center after his presidency to improve health around the world and enhance freedom and democracy.
Carter to head to DC for services at Capitol, Washington National Cathedral
Former President Jimmy Carter’s remains will be escorted from the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for the 39th president’s final trip to the nation’s capital.
His remains will leave the Carter Center at 11:30 a.m. ET.
The first stop in D.C. will be the U.S. Navy Memorial in honor of the former president’s service.
At 4:30 p.m. ET, members of Congress, the Supreme Court, the Cabinet, the Joint Chiefs and other officials will congregate at the U.S. Capitol for a lying in state ceremony. Vice President Kamala Harris, Senator Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson are expected to deliver eulogies and lay wreaths.
Carter’s remains will lie in state at the Capitol from Tuesday evening to Thursday morning, allowing the public to pay respects.
On Thursday morning, former presidents and other dignitaries will attend a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral. President Joe Biden will deliver a eulogy.
On Thursday afternoon, Carter’s body will return to his hometown of Plains, Georgia, for a private service and private interment. Carter will be buried next to his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, who died on Nov. 19, 2023, at the age of 96.
(WASHINGTON) — After prevailing in a state that went for Republican Donald Trump, Democratic Gov.-elect Josh Stein said that his service as attorney general gave North Carolina voters confidence and called the Tar Heel state a “bright spot” for Democrats on election night.
Stein told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl that Kamala Harris ran a “strong campaign,” but was hindered by a condensed timeline and “tough national mood.”
“It was a unfortunate night for Democrats across this country, but North Carolina was a bright spot,” Stein said. “ And we’re proud of what we accomplished here.”
This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.
