With Some Questionable Creative Accounting, Economy Creates 120,000 Jobs, Rate Tumbles to 8.6 Percent

And Obama almost breaks his arm patting himself on his back. How dare he! How dare any politician.

The reality is that Unemployment is closer to 17%, but over 300,000 souls just plain quit looking for work and/or no longer are eligible for unemployment insurance. They have just fallen of the statistical radar to make the unemployment picture more rosy. The work picture was boosted substantially by temporary "Holiday" (formerly known as Christmas) Jobs. Unfortunately, unemployment will slip back in the New Year to around 9% again.

Economy Creates 120,000 Jobs, Rate Tumbles to 8.6 Percent - CNBC

Friday, 2 Dec 2011 By: Jeff Cox

Job creation remained weak in the U.S. during November, with just 120,000 new positions created, though the unemployment rate slid to 8.6 percent, a government report showed Friday.

The rate fell from the previous month's 9.0 percent, a move which in part reflected a drop in those looking for jobs. The participation rate dropped to 64 percent, from 64.2 percent in October, representing 315,000 fewer job-seekers.

The actual employment level increased by 278,000. The total amount of those without a job fell to 13.3 million.

The drop in participation rate is significant in that had the labor force remained steady, the jobless rate would have dropped to 8.8 percent, according to Citigroup calculations. If the labor force had followed trend growth, unemployment would be at 8.9 percent.

"Overall, the continued modest employment gains reflect an economy that plods along at an uninspiring pace," Kathy Bostjancic, director of macroeconomic analysis at The Conference Board, said in a statement. "These modest job gains are still not enough to propel economic growth to a sustainable 2 percent-plus growth path."

The measure some refer to as the "real" unemployment rate, which counts discouraged workers, also took a fall to 15.6 percent from 16.2 percent, its lowest level since March 2009.

-more at link (an this article is trying hard to be positive).

NEW YORK | Thu Dec 1, 2011 9:11am EST

(Reuters) - New claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly last week, popping above 400,000 for the first time in just over a month and reinforcing the view that the battered labor market was healing only slowly.