Puerto Rico's employment reached the highest level since January 2013 at year-end.
Total December employment rose 3% from a year earlier and 3.2% from September 2014, which was the lowest point in the last 10 years, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. December employment was up 0.7% from November.
In the same household survey, bureau reported a 12.2% unemployment rate, down 1.5 percentage points from a year earlier and 0.3 percentage points from a month earlier.
The bureau also releases an establishment survey that surveys private and public sector employers. This presented a more mixed picture. In December total employment was up 0.25% from December 2014 but down 0.19% from November 2015. Private sector employment was up 0.24% from December 2014 but down 0.32% from November 2015.
All data in this report were seasonally adjusted.
