Roughly 347,000 Americans gave up looking for work in December, allowing progressives to claim a sharp drop in the formal unemployment rate during the month.
The formal unemployment rate fell from 7.0 percent to 6.7 percent even though only about 74,000 extra people got jobs during the month, according to the Bureau of Labor Standards.
That 74,000 number is actually less than the monthly influx of additional American adults and immigrants, which adds up to roughly 90,000.
Over the last year, the BLS data showed that the percentage of people who have jobs stayed flat, indicating the average American is seeing little or no economic recovery in President Barack Obama’s economy.
Nationally, Americans’ jobs’ also had slightly shorter hours in December, compared to November. “The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged down by 0.1 hour to 34.4 hours in December,” the BLS reported.
The BLS’ December survey of companies’ data showed an employment increase of only 74,000, in an economy with 150 million jobs.