U.S. News & World Report (01/04/13) Danielle Kurtzleben

Job growth seems to have solidified at a monthly pace of about 150,000 new jobs, but is having difficulty growing beyond that level. Jobs have largely been concentrated in the service sector, and within that sector they’ve been concentrated in temporary help services, health care, and leisure and hospitality, according to Patrick O’Keefe, director of economic research at accounting firm CohnReznick. He says that because the service sector has been “pedal-to-the-metal” for so long, this may bode poorly for the jobs market, because “Where would we accelerate?”

The jobless rate is higher among less-educated workers, which means many new jobs would have to appeal to these workers. Although construction offers good paying opportunities for less-educated workers, other sectors such as hospitality and food service tend to pay poorly. Meanwhile, the number of people who have stopped looking for work but would like to have a job rose to a nonseasonally adjusted level of one million in December.