Marathon Pundit: Unemployment rate drops, but 122K fewer Americans have jobs

Friday, December 07, 2012

Unemployment rate drops, but 122K fewer Americans have jobs

The nationwide unemployment rate dropped to 7.7 percent--146,000 new jobs were created.

However, the news isn't as good as it seems. as CNBC tells us.

Also, the drop in the unemployment rate appeared to reflect little more than a continued exodus of workers from the labor force.

The labor force participation rate, already around 30-year lows, fell further in the month to 63.6 percent. That represented 350,000 fewer workers.

In all, there were a net 122,000 fewer people with jobs.

An alternative measure of unemployment, which counts those who have given up looking for jobs as well as those working part-time for economic reasons, also edged lower to 14.4 percent.