The Federal Reserve is preparing to raise interest rates sooner and — perhaps — more aggressively after inflation reached the highest in nearly 40 years.

U.S. employers added 199,000 jobs in December as the unemployment rate fell to 3.9%, marking a second consecutive month of disappointing numbers.

Other states have reported similar losses. Ohio reported it paid out more than $3.8 billion in fraudulent jobless aid. California has paid out at least $20 billion.

Hiring slowed sharply last month, even as the unemployment rate fell to 4.2%. Data from the Labor Department suggest the economy was losing steam even before the appearance of a new COVID-19 variant.

U.S. employers added 531,000 new jobs as the unemployment rate fell to 4.6%. Millions of would-be workers are still on the sidelines, though, leaving the pace of the recovery in doubt.

The Labor Department says the U.S. added just 194,000 jobs last month, even lower than the lackluster showing in August. The unemployment rate fell to 4.8%.

Hiring slowed in August as a surge in new coronavirus infections weighed on the economic recovery. Employers added just 235,000 jobs last month, a sharp drop from June and July.

Career coach and author Ken Coleman explains how we can go from paycheck to purpose.

Georgia’s health insurance exchange is offering more and lower-priced insurance plans. That means more help for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. But the deadline to enroll is almost here. GPB’s Ellen Eldridge reports.  

As the U.S. economy continues to rebound from the pandemic recession, lots of people are going back to work — but not as quickly as many employers would like. Employers added 943,00 jobs in June.

Starting July 4, unemployed Georgians will have to submit evidence they’re looking for work to the state Department of Labor. Reinstatement of the work search requirement comes as Georgia ends its participation in the various pandemic-related federal unemployment insurance programs Congress has passed during the last 15 months.

Small businesses are struggling to find enough workers to keep pace with booming demand even as data showed 850,000 jobs created in June.

Georgia is set to cut off extended federal unemployment benefits by this weekend, threatening to end relief aid to more than 218,00 Georgians who used the money to get through the pandemic, according to a report from the National Employment Law Project.

Georgia is about to join 25 other mostly Republican-led states in cutting off supplemental federal unemployment benefits before the Biden administration ends the program in September.

Indiana is one of eight states that are scheduled to end expanded pandemic unemployment benefits this weekend.