National unemployment rate drops to 9.4%
Joe Cahill, of Lindenhurst, has been unemployed since January 2009 and working freelance to pay bills. He had been a creative director for a company that closed. He says he is optimistic about finding something permanent. (Jan. 7, 2010) Credit: Ed Betz
The U.S. economy added 113,000 private-sector jobs in December, capping 12 straight months of employment growth, according to federal data released Friday. But the growth continued significantly below expectations. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected the sector to create 175,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate, on the other hand, bested economists' predictions by falling from 9.8 percent in November to 9.4 percent last month, the lowest since May 2009. Economists had predicted a drop to 9.7 percent.
The latest decline largely reflected a drop in the number of unemployed adult men, the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics noted in a statement. In fact, among adults 20 years old and older, the jobless rate for white men, who were uncharacteristically hard hit during the last recession, improved the most, falling to 8.5 percent in December from 9.1 percent in November, the data show.
At least one worker who is struggling to become employed is more optimistic about the job market.
Joe Cahill, 30, of Lindenhurst, lost his job as a creative director at a Long Island manufacturing company when it closed at the end of 2008. During his job search, Cahill said he would get called back for interviews only to be told later that the open position was not going to be filled after all.
Still, Cahill, who has been in "freelance-hustle mode" to pay bills, feels optimistic about the new year. "I've been seeing a higher rate of callbacks and phone interviews," he said. "I'm definitely hopeful."
The overall drop in the unemployment rate was significant in one respect because a falling unemployment rate during the job market recovery has often just reflected a rise in the number of discouraged workers - those unemployed people who have given up looking for a job and thus aren't included in the unemployment rate. But this was not the case so much in December.
"We're on a growth path," said Ken Goldstein, economist for The Conference Board, a Manhattan business research group. But he cautioned not to expect too much, too fast.
"We got a bit ahead of ourselves in terms of how much improvement [to expect] and in terms of how soon," he said.
The retail numbers were a case in point. Reports of strong retail holiday sales drove expectations that retailers would boost their holiday hiring this season from last year. Instead, the number of retail jobs rose by just 12,000 in December after a decline of 19,400 in November.
"What is behind this is the feeling on the part of retailers that they can adapt very easily whether they need to cut back or whether they need to add," Goldstein said.
One upscale retailer, Saks Fifth Avenue, had less of a need for seasonal workers because strong sales throughout the year prompted the chain to hire more full-time workers, spokeswoman Julia Bentley said.
Among the sectors gaining in the latest job report, leisure and hospitality picked up the most jobs in December, 47,000. The government sector had one of the biggest losses, 10,000 jobs, mostly because of local government layoffs. That loss dropped nonfarm employment, which includes both the public and private sector, to a gain of 103,000 in December.
