The Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls in the U.S. increased by 200,000 in December, the biggest gain in three months and the fourth best gain for all of 2011, as the unemployment rate fell from 8.6 percent to 8.5 percent.

After holding steady at about 9 percent during most of 2011, the jobless rate has now declined by 0.6 percentage points in just the last three months as the number of unemployed persons has fallen from 13.9 million to 13.1 million. During that same time, the size of the labor force has decreased from 154.0 million to 153.9 million, reducing the participation rate from 64.1 percent to 64.0 percent.

(more…)

The Labor Department reported that initial claims for unemployment insurance rose from an upwardly revised 366,000 to 381,000 for the week ending December 24th, but the total stayed below the psychologically important 400,000 level for the fourth straight week.

After dipping below the 400,000 level earlier in the year for the first time since the economic recovery began in mid-2009, jobless claims moved back up over that mark until late-summer, but claims have now been below this level for seven out of the last eight weeks, more evidence of an improving U.S. labor market.

Of course, that trend could reverse very quickly in the New Year if Europe continues down its current path and economic difficulties around the world spread to North America.

The Labor Department reported that weekly claims for unemployment insurance dropped to their lowest level since July of 2008, down from an upwardly revised 385,000 to just 366,000 for the week ending December 10th, as the four-week moving average moved down to 387,750, a decrease of 6,500 from the week prior.

Possibly related – Is the government lying to us about the economy? – from Rex Nutting at MarketWatch that contains the following amazing detail:

There was a time when the president of the United States tried to bully the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 1971, Richard Nixon, the patron saint of paranoids, thought the BLS should massage the data on inflation and employment to help his re-election, but feared that the agency was a secret “Jewish cabal” that was disloyal to him. He purged the Jews from the agency, and leaned on the agency to emphasize the good news in its reports.

Nixon’s move to control the BLS failed. New rules to keep the political pressure off were issued under President Gerald Ford, and government statisticians at the Labor Department, the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Federal Reserve have prided themselves ever since on their independence.

The Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls rose by 120,000 in November while there were major upward revisions to data from prior months and the unemployment rate reached a two-and-a-half year low, falling from 9.0 percent to 8.6 percent.

The number of unemployed people fell from 13.9 million in October to 13.3 million in November while the labor force shrank from 154.2 million to 153.9 million, so, it was a combination of these two factors that drove the jobless rate lower. The broader U6 measure of under-employment (including discouraged workers and those settling for part-time work) fell from 16.2 percent to 15.6 percent.

(more…)

The Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls increased by 80,000 in October after an upwardly revised gain of 104,000 in August and 158,000 in September as the jobless rate fell from 9.1 percent to 9.0 percent.

While the October payrolls gain came in slightly below consensus estimates, total upward revisions of 102,000 for the prior two months helped to offset this disappointment, however, the U.S. labor market continues to add jobs at a pace that is failing to keep up with the growth in the population, payroll gains averaging just 90,000 over the last six months and 123,000 so far this year.

(more…)

In advance of tomorrow’s big monthly jobs report from the Labor Department, a Pew Research survey(.pdf) shows how difficult things have become for the long-term unemployed, particularly if you are over 55 and have little or no higher education.

Almost 32 percent of the nation’s 14.4 million “unemployed” (i.e., not counting an almost equal number of people who have either given up looking for a job or who have settled for part-time work) have been without a job for over a year. But, for those over 55, that share goes up to nearly 45 percent as shown above and the less school you’ve had the worse your chances of landing a job (unless of course you move to Williston, ND).