Summary: December proved to be a good month for the legal industry with around 1,200 new jobs added in the preliminary reports by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The overall national employment took a positive turn in December. The U.S. legal sector was especially good with 1,200 jobs added.
The legal industry now stands at 1,128,000 people employed based on initial figures by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. November showed 1,126,800 people employed in the legal industry. Those included in these numbers are lawyers and legal professionals on payroll, including secretaries and paralegals.
The past year has been filled with ups and downs. January had 1,118,000 employed in the legal industry and rose to 1,122,000 in April only to drop a few months later. By September the number of those employed in the legal industry had risen back up to 1,125,700, which was the biggest jump in jobs in the legal sector with the addition of 4,400 jobs.
As a whole, 2015 was not a bad year with a total of 10,000 jobs added throughout the year. In 2014, the industry saw an overall loss of 2,700 fewer jobs.
Another industry that saw positive numbers was the nonfarm payroll employment with an increase of 292,000 in December but that still left the unemployment rate the same at 5 percent. The professional and business services sector grew by 73,000 with a big boost of 34,000 from temp help services.
These numbers are preliminary and may be adjusted in future reports as more accurate numbers get posted.
Source: https://bol.bna.com/u-s-legal-sector-gains-1200-jobs-in-december/