Employers finished the year with a burst of hiring: The economy added 223,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate fell back to a half-century low of 3.5%, the Labor Department reported on Friday.

Why it matters: The labor market is still chugging along with healthy demand for workers, the latest sign that the economy is holding up despite recession fears.

December's payroll gains are slightly higher than the 200,000 that economists forecast for the month.

Jobs growth moderated from November's gains, which were revised down to 256,000. In October, updated figures show the economy added 263,000 jobs, 21,000 fewer than initially estimated.

Details: Average hourly earnings, one measure of wage growth, rose by 0.3% in December or 4.6% over the past 12 months — a slightly slower pace than the 0.4% monthly rise in November (which was revised lower from 0.6%).

The share of people employed or searching for work, known as the labor force participation rate, ticked up only slightly to 62.3%, compared to 62.1% in November.