Throughout the presidential race, politicians, analysts, pollsters and financial markets became fixated on one monthly economic report: unemployment. Its trajectory was seen as a good barometer on whether President Barack Obama would be re-elected.

He was. And now the jobs reports have faded to become part of the background noise as Obama heads for his second term, a new Congress is in place and the political landscape remains as divided as ever, the economic outlook as uncertain.

The Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. job growth held up during tense fiscal negotiations in December as employers added 155,000 jobs and the unemployment rate stayed at 7.8 percent.