By Shobhana Chandra

© 2015, Bloomberg News

A rise in employment and a falling jobless rate in December capped the best year for the labor market since 1999 and reinforced the U.S. role as the global economy’s standout performer.

The addition of 252,000 jobs followed a 353,000 rise the prior month that was more than previously estimated, a Labor Department report showed on Friday. The jobless rate dropped to the lowest level since June 2008. The report wasn’t all good news as earnings unexpectedly declined from a month earlier.

An additional 2.95 million Americans found work in 2014, the most in 15 years and a sign companies are optimistic U.S. demand will persist even as overseas markets struggle. The combination of job growth and cheaper gasoline will probably help stretch workers’ paychecks and sustain consumer spending.

“We have continued, solid job growth,” said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase in New York, who projected a 240,000 gain. “It shows really solid momentum in U.S. growth. There are not a lot of places in the world where we see that these days. The oddity in the report is the move down in average hourly earnings.”

Job growth last month was highlighted by the biggest gain in construction employment in almost a year. Factories, health-care providers and business services also kept adding workers in December.

The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 240,000 advance in payrolls. Estimates of 99 economists ranged from gains of 160,000 to 305,000 after a previously reported 321,000 November increase.

Revisions to prior reports added a total of 50,000 jobs to overall payrolls in the previous two months.

Stocks dropped on concern the decline in unemployment will keep Federal Reserve policy makers on track to raise interest rates later this year.

The unemployment rate, which is derived from a separate Labor Department survey of households, was projected to drop to 5.7 percent from 5.8 percent, according to the survey median.

The participation rate, which indicates the share of working-age people in the labor force, decreased to 62.7 percent from 62.9 percent.

Average hourly earnings for all employees dropped by 0.2 percent, the biggest since comparable records began in 2006, to $24.57 from the prior month. Earnings rose 0.2 percent in November. They increased 1.7 percent over the 12 months ended in December, the smallest gain since October 2012.

In accordance with usual practice, the December jobs report also incorporated annual revisions in seasonally adjusted household survey data. Figures for January through November showed very little change from previous estimates.

Construction companies added 48,000 workers last month, the most since January. Factories increased payrolls by 17,000 in December.

Alicia Courtney, 28, is seeing the labor market improvement first hand. Feeling “kind of stuck” in her old job, she said she began looking for a new one in August. FlexJobs’ search services helped her land a position in mid-November as an account manager at EmoryDay, a digital marketing company.

“There are certainly more jobs available out there,” said Courtney, who is earning about 20 percent more now and works from home in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. “This is exactly what I wanted. I was pretty confident I’d find a new job, and it wasn’t too difficult.”

Wage gains have lagged behind the pace of employment growth. Increased incomes, combined with the cheapest fuel costs since 2009, are needed to help lay the ground work for a pickup in the household spending that accounts for about 70 percent of the economy.

The outlook is improving for earners at the lowest end of the income ladder. Voters approved ballot measures and legislatures enacted laws that allowed the minimum wage to rise in almost half of U.S. states on Jan. 1. The advances may be reflected in the wage data in the jobs report for January.

Stronger employment growth underscores the U.S. economy’s resilience in the face of cooling markets that stretch from Europe to China.

Greenbrier is among companies that are expecting stronger domestic demand. The Lake Oswego, Oregon-based supplier of railroad equipment boosted its annual forecast after reporting a record backlog in the first quarter.

“Macro-economic conditions indicate strength and expansion for the U.S. economy in 2015 and beyond, with lower energy prices creating a strong impetus for auto production, consumer spending and overall growth,” William Furman, chief executive officer, said in a statement on Jan. 7.

Businesses reducing staff include J.C. Penney, a department-store chain that said it will close 40 stores this year and cut as many as 2,250 jobs as it continues its attempted turnaround.

Fed policy makers last month noted the improvement in the job market that’s underpinning growth in the sixth year of the expansion.

“Underutilization of labor resources continues to diminish,” the officials said in a statement after their December meeting. They also said they will be “patient” on the timing of the first interest-rate increase since 2006. Minutes of the meeting released on Jan. 7 showed that being deliberate on interest rates means no increase before late April.

With assistance from Michelle Jamrisko, Victoria Stilwell and Chris Middleton in Washington.