Posted January 7, 2011
Unemployment falls to 9.4 percent
The unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 9.4 percent in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
Manufacturing gained 10,000 jobs over the month. Following job growth earlier in 2010, manufacturing employment has been relatively flat, on net, since May. Construction employment fell by 16,000 in December. Within construction, there were job losses in heavy and civil engineering (-13,000) and in residential building (-6,000).
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 103,000.
