Unemployment Rate Falls Dramatically to 8.6%

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The U.S. jobless rate has declined to 8.6%, the lowest overall unemployment figure in nearly three years.

The primary figure used in the unemployment rate calculation, non-farm payroll, showed an increased of 120,000 jobs in the month of November. This number is the net total increase in jobs, reflecting the creation of 140,000 private sector jobs and the elimination of 20,000 public sector/government jobs.

The increase in jobs was driven largely by hiring in the retail sector, with companies like Macy's and Toys-R-Us gearing up for the busy holiday season. While some of the newly created positions are temporary, the overall employment picture is nonetheless encouraging (after all, temp jobs count in the calculation every holiday season, and the current jobless rate is still significantly lower than it was in November 2009 or 2010).


One important side note to this month's dramatic decline is the number of people who are "leaving the workforce." About 300,000 people who have not found work and who were previously counted among the "unemployed" have indicated that they are no longer actively seeking employment. (This is likely due to the expiration of long-term unemployment benefits that is scheduled to happen in December, which would otherwise have required people to officially indicate they are actively seeking work.)

From a calculation standpoint, this means that there are actually 420,000 fewer unemployed people in this month's statistics, the 120,000 who found jobs plus the 300,000 who are no longer actively looking for a job. Even without the laborers who left the workforce, the unemployment rate would have fallen to 8.9%, but there is certainly an added mathematical boost provided by the "exiting" workers.

The political conclusion to be drawn from the November jobless rate is an economy featuring more jobs and less government, all of which has been accomplished with no help from a useless Congress. These extremely positive results, coupled with a field of Republican presidential candidates proposing the same tried-but-untrue approach that thrust us into the economic abyss in the first place, serve to strengthen President Obama's case for re-election in 2012. Barring any significant economic backsliding, and assuming continued slow and steady progress on the jobs front, President Obama will be America's clear and overwhelming choice for president in 2012.