A Surprising Unemployment Report

The BLS reported this morning that the US economy created a net grand total of 1,000 jobs in December, according to the Department of Labor’s survey of businesses. That’s pretty bad. Surprisingly bad, in fact. According to the less reliable household survey, the US economy lost 54,000 jobs in December.

The good news is that the unemployment rate went down to 5.7%. That’s less bad. But since jobs aren’t being created, the only reason the unemployment rate is falling must be people dropping out of the labor force. Which is probably also bad.

Kash