US economy loses job vacancies and unemployment rate stands at 6.7%

The United States economy closed jobs for the first time in eight months in December, as the country is under pressure from overwhelming Covid-19 infections, suggesting a significant loss of momentum that could temporarily halt recovery from the pandemic.

The US economy closed 140,000 jobs last month, the US Department of Labor said on Friday. November data was revised to show 336,000 jobs created, instead of the 245,000 previously reported.

This was the first job closure since April. The economy recovered just over half of the 22.2 million jobs lost in March and April.

The unemployment rate was 6.7% in December.

Despite the weakness of the labor market, the economy is unlikely to return to recession after additional support of nearly $ 900 billion in pandemic relief was approved by the U.S. government last week.

Still, the employment report added to a series of other weak data on consumer confidence and spending to highlight the brutal impact of the virus on the economy, which plunged into recession in February.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania said, the economy will be tilting to the weak side in the coming months, but with fiscal support and vaccines, the economy is expected to start accelerating in the summer (in the Northern Hemisphere),

The U.S. economy must have advanced at an annualized rate of about 5% in the fourth quarter of 2020, with most of the jump in Gross Domestic Product coming from investment in inventory. GDP grew at a historic pace of 33.4% in the third quarter, after shrinking at a rate of 31.4% in the period from April to June, the biggest drop since the government started keeping records in 1947.