The Unemployment Rate Stays Constant at 4.1 Percent on a National Average The numbers are in for December 2017 regarding job growth. During the month of December the United States added 148,000 jobs. Wages did see a national average increase, and the unemployment rate stayed the same at 4.1 percent. A total of 2.06 million jobs were added for all of 2017, with 148,000 new jobs created in December. Browse over the jobs report Twitter feed to see both sides of the jobs debate. We have paired different points of view to this article to remain unbiased about the subject.