The stars and stripes fly, in photos, as Flag Day approaches

More than 75 years after Flag Day became U.S. law, the stars and stripes grab our gaze these days in constant portraits of how Americans see their country's promise — sometimes dotted along historic graves of military veterans, draped upside down over a protester, or painted on a barn.

Flag Day commemorates the 1777 approval of a national flag design by the Continental Congress. It was established by federal law in 1949 as June 14. Observances preceded that, including in 1891 at a Philadelphia house of Betsy Ross. But the fervor for the flag that exists today has strong roots in the Civil War, when flag bearers were regarded with particularly high honor.

At the Betsy Ross House, a flag bearing a circle of 13 stars for each of the colonies is flown. And at a family farm near Loring, Kansas, 38 stars are painted on the flag on its barn, the number of states when the barn was built in 1884. Those throwback versions and others are still around, but the 50-star flag is never far from view. It has been patterned on a pro golfer's shorts, colored onto the roof of a business, and brandished during confrontations at public demonstrations.

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

Key Felix, center, of Haiti, is greeted by his sister, carrying American flag balloons, as he arrives in Miami for his first visit to the U.S., at Miami International Airport, Monday, June 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A morale patch embroidered with the United States flag is seen, Friday, June 6, 2025, in Marple Township, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Tim O'Connor, back left, and his son Matthew O'Connor, work on a large United States flag at Humphrys Flag Company that will be draped outside their building for Flag Day, in Philadelphia, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Karrie Brewer mows in front of a flag-painted barn Saturday, June 7, 2025, on the family farm near Loring, Kan. The barn was painted by her husband, Quentin Brewer, who's birthday is flag day, with 38 stars representing the number of states in the union when the barn was built in 1884. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Children look at the Star Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired the lyrics of the American national anthem, at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

A flag-painted barn stands in the distance beyond an old pickup truck Saturday, June 7, 2025, on the a farm owned by Quentin and Karrie Brewer near Loring, Kan. The barn was painted by Quentin, who's birthday is flag day, with 38 stars representing the number of states in the union when the barn was built in 1884. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

An American flag at Portland Head Light catches the light at sunrise, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Old headstones at Leavenworth National Cemetery are marked with U.S. flags on the eve of Memorial Day, Sunday, May 25, 2025, in Leavenworth, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Protester Annie Jones holds a U.S. Flag upside down as a sign of distress while California National Guard stand behind a barricade in Santa Ana, Calif. on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo Jae C. Hong)

Anti-ICE protesters march in downtown San Antonio, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A protester holds up an American flag in front of a dumpster that was set on fire during a protest against federal immigration arrests, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

A protester stands in front of a line of law enforcement personnel at a Federal Building on Monday, June 9, 2025, in downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Australian golfer Jason Day, wears U.S. flag-themed shorts as he prepares to putt during a practice round ahead of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Tim O'Connor works on a large United States flag at Humphrys Flag Company that will be draped outside their building for Flag Day, in Philadelphia, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Gloria Ramos sews reinforcement into U.S. flags at Dixie Flag and Banner, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Lucy A. Rodriguez sews the stripes for a large U.S. flag at Dixie Flag and Banner, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A U.S. flag is seen on a piece of cake for attendees after a news conference near the Trans-Alaska Pipeline at the Pump Station 1 on Monday, June 2, 2025, located near Deadhorse, Alaska, on the state's prodigious North Slope. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Cornelia Bridges demonstrates how a flag is stitched together at the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia, Monday, June 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Cornelia Bridges secures a flag for an education program at the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia, Monday, June 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A painting of an American flag decorates the roof of a financial services business, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

The U.S. Capitol is seen past American flags on the National Mall, Friday, June 6, 2025, on the National Mall in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sluggish December hiring concluded a year of weak employment gains that have frustrated job seekers even though layoffs and unemployment have remained low.

Employers added just 50,000 jobs last month, nearly unchanged from a downwardly revised figure of 56,000 in November, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate slipped to 4.4%, its first decline since June, from 4.5% in November, a figure also revised lower.

The data suggests that businesses are reluctant to add workers even as economic growth has picked up. Many companies hired aggressively after the pandemic and no longer need to fill more jobs. Others have held back due to widespread uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s shifting tariff policies, elevated inflation, and the spread of artificial intelligence, which could alter or even replace some jobs.

Still, economists were encouraged by the drop in the unemployment rate, which had risen in the previous four straight reports. It had also alarmed officials at the Federal Reserve, prompting three cuts to the central bank's key interest rate last year. The decline lowered the odds of another rate reduction in January, economists said.

“The labor market looks to have stabilized, but at a slower pace of employment growth,” Blerina Uruci, chief economist at T. Rowe Price, said. There is no urgency for the Fed to cut rates further, for now."

Some Federal Reserve officials are concerned that inflation remains above their target of 2% annual growth, and hasn't improved since 2024. They support keeping rates where they are to combat inflation. Others, however, are more worried that hiring has nearly ground to a halt and have supported lowering borrowing costs to spur spending and growth.

November's job gain was revised slightly lower, from 64,000 to 56,000, while October's now shows a much steeper drop, with a loss of 173,000 positions, down from previous estimates of a 105,000 decline. The government revises the jobs figures as it receives more survey responses from businesses.

The economy has now lost an average of 22,000 jobs a month in the past three months, the government said. A year ago, in December 2024, it had gained 209,000 a month. Most of those losses reflect the purge of government workers by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

Nearly all the jobs added in December were in the health care and restaurant and hotel industries. Health care added 38,500 jobs, while restaurants and hotels gained 47,000. Governments — mostly at the state and local level — added 13,000.

Manufacturing, construction and retail companies all shed jobs. Retailers cut 25,000 positions, a sign that holiday hiring has been weaker than previous years. Manufacturers have shed jobs every month since April, when Trump announced sweeping tariffs intended to boost manufacturing.

Wall Street and Washington are looking closely at Friday's report as it's the first clean reading on the labor market in three months. The government didn’t issue a report in October because of the six-week government shutdown, and November’s data was distorted by the closure, which lasted until Nov. 12.

The hiring slowdown reflects more than just a reluctance by companies to add jobs. With an aging population and a sharp drop in immigration, the economy doesn't need to create as many jobs as it has in the past to keep the unemployment rate steady. As a result, a gain of 50,000 jobs is not as clear a sign of weakness as it would have been in previous years.

And layoffs are still low, a sign firms aren't rapidly cutting jobs, as typically happens in a recession. The “low-hire, low-fire” job market does mean current workers have some job security, though those without jobs can have a tougher time.

Ernesto Castro, 44, has applied for hundreds of jobs since leaving his last in May. Yet the Los Angeles resident has gotten just three initial interviews, and only one follow-up, after which he heard nothing.

With nearly a decade of experience providing customer support for software companies, Castro expected to find a new job pretty quickly as he did in 2024.

“I should be in a good position,” Castro said. “It’s been awful.”

He worries that more companies are turning to artificial intelligence to help clients learn to use new software. He hears ads from tech companies that urge companies to slash workers that provide the kind of services he has in his previous jobs. His contacts in the industry say that employees are increasingly reluctant to switch jobs amid all the uncertainty, which leaves fewer open jobs for others.

He is now looking into starting his own software company, and is also exploring project management roles.

December’s report caps a year of sluggish hiring, particularly after April's “liberation day” tariff announcement by Trump. The economy generated an average of 111,000 jobs a month in the first three months of 2025. But that pace dropped to just 11,000 in the three months ended in August, before rebounding slightly to 22,000 in November.

Last year, the economy gained just 584,000 jobs, sharply lower than that more than 2 million added in 2024. It's the smallest annual gain since the COVID-19 pandemic decimated the job market in 2020.

Subdued hiring underscores a key conundrum surrounding the economy as it enters 2026: Growth has picked up to healthy levels, yet hiring has weakened noticeably and the unemployment rate has increased in the last four jobs reports.

Most economists expect hiring will accelerate this year as growth remains solid, and Trump's tax cut legislation is expected to produce large tax refunds this spring. Yet economists acknowledge there are other possibilities: Weak job gains could drag down future growth. Or the economy could keep expanding at a healthy clip, while automation and the spread of artificial intelligence reduces the need for more jobs.

Productivity, or output per hour worked, a measure of worker efficiency, has improved in the past three years and jumped nearly 5% in the July-September quarter. That means companies can produce more without adding jobs. Over time, it should also boost worker pay.

Even with such sluggish job gains, the economy has continued to expand, with growth reaching a 4.3% annual rate in last year's July-September quarter, the best in two years. Strong consumer spending helped drive the gain. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta forecasts that growth could slow to a still-solid 2.7% in the final three months of last year.

FILE - A hiring sign is displayed at a grocery store in Northbrook, Ill., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)