Payrolls keep growing even amid fiscal talks

The US economy rounded out a third year of job gains with another month of employment growth in December, sending the strongest signal yet that it kept expanding even as the budget fight intensified. Payrolls rose by 155,000 workers last month following a 161,000 advance in November, Labor Department figures showed on Friday. The unemployment rate held at 7.8 per cent after the November figure was revised up from a previously reported 7.7 per cent.