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Unemployment Rate Falls To 8.6%, Lowest Since March 2009
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 2, 2011
Modified Dec 2, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 2, 2011
Modified Dec 2, 2011
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Today, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that unemployment fell to 8.6% in November, the lowest since March 2009. According to Bloomberg News, "Payrolls climbed 120,000, after a revised 100,000 increase in October, with more than half the hiring coming from retailers and temporary help agencies."
While big drop from October's 9% number was unexpected, the NY Times explains, "The jobless rate fell partly because more workers got jobs, but also because about 315,000 workers dropped out of the labor force, and the jobless rate counts only people who are actively looking for work. Even so, the country still has a backlog of more than 13 million unemployed workers, whose periods of unemployment averaged an all-time high of 40.9 weeks... The weaknesses in Friday’s numbers underscored just how much President Obama needs additional stimulus, a tidy and fast resolution to the European debt crisis or some other economic miracle to reinvigorate the job market before the 2012 presidential election."
The Wall Street Journal says this news shows the economy is on "firmer footing than it was just two months ago," but "jobless rate remains high, and threats to the U.S. economic recovery remain." Oh, well, President Gingrich will solve that.
Tagged
economy
jobs
recession
Unemployment
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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