256,000 jobs were added to the U.S. job market in December, and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.1%, rounding out a year that brought the country back to pre-pandemic levels.

According to a report published by CNN, “including December’s gains, which are subject to revision, the economy added about 2.2 million jobs in 2024, an average of 186,000 jobs per month. That’s in line with annual totals from 2017 to 2019 but marks a slowdown from the blowout gains seen during the pandemic recovery during the prior years.”

These figures, which surpass what economists predicted for December job growth, mark 48 consecutive months of added jobs to the U.S. economy.