Job growth expected to have cooled in December but not enough to slow Fed rate hikes

The economy is expected to have added 200,000 jobs in December, less than November, but still strong enough to keep the Federal Reserve aggressively tightening policy to fight inflation.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones also expect that the unemployment rate remained at 3.7% in December, while average hourly wage growth slowed to 0.4% from 0.6% in November. There were 263,000 jobs added in November.

The employment report is scheduled to be released Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET, and it is the last major monthly jobs data before the Fed meets Jan....