Heres where the jobs are for December 2024 in one chart [Video]

December’s job report marked yet another month of stronger-than-expected growth, with gains coming from many different parts of the U.S. economy.

Last month, health-care and social assistance jobs saw the largest gains for a third consecutive month, adding 69,500 to payrolls, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Including private education, as some economists do, the health-care group’s growth would have risen by 80,000.

Retail trade, which added 43,400 jobs, and leisure and hospitality, up 43,000, scored the second- and third-largest increases last month. Retail trade jobs are in or outside a store, from infomercials to street vendors to vending machines, can sell to consumers or other businesses and involve after-sale services, such as repair and installation, the BLS says.

Government jobs rounded out the top four, posting growth of 33,000 in December.

“Recently, job growth has been very narrowly concentrated in government and health care,” Julia Pollak, ZipRecruiter’s chief economist, told CNBC. “Now, it seems like perhaps it’s broadening …