The legal sector added 1,000 jobs in December according to seasonally adjusted preliminary employment data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the same report, the BLS restated its November hiring estimate for the industry downward from a gain of 200 jobs to a loss of 200. It also revised its October estimate upward from 600 jobs gained to 1,300.
Factoring in December's bump, the legal sector now employs 7,800 more people than it did when 2011 ended. While the 1.123 million people working in the industry as of December represents the sector's largest workforce since June 2009, that total is still about 50,000 shy of prerecession levels.
The overall economy closed out 2012 by adding 155,000 jobs in December, bringing the total number of jobs created last year to 1.8 million. Friday's report revised November's unemployment rate from 7.7 percent to 7.8 percent, a figure that held steady in December.
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