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Unemployment Drops As 200,000 Added to Payrolls
Modestly good news on the job front came rolling out of Washington this morning, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting that U.S. employers added more jobs in December than had been expected, and that the unemployment rate dropped slightly.
An additional 200,000 workers were added to payrolls, while unemployment dipped to 8.5 percent from November’s 8.6 percent. That marks the lowest unemployment rate since February 2009.
"The December employment report was unambiguously very solid," Deutsche Bank economist Alan Ruskin told the Wall Street Journal.
Economists had expected the addition of 160,000 jobs and an increase in the unemployment rate for December to 8.7 percent from November’s 8.6 percent.
The number of jobs added by the private sector was 212,000, but continued cuts in government at all levels dragged down the total number of jobs added. The public sector remained essentially flat.
The retail, manufacturing, and business service sectors each added jobs in December.
Kent Bernhard Jr. is News Editor of Portfolio.com
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