The US unemployment rate dropped to 8.5 percent in December, from 8.6 per cent the previous month, the Labour Department said Friday. The decrease marks a three-year low in joblessness - the lowest since February 2009 - and continues along a downward trend. US employers added 200,000 jobs in December, beating economists' estimates of a median gain for December of 155,000 jobs and markingan increase from November's revised 100,000-jobs gain. Job increases occurred in transportation and ware housing, retail trade, manufacturing, health care, and mining. Sustained payroll gains are needed to start making a dent in unemployment and boost household spending, which accounts for more than 70 per cent of the world's largest economy, economists said. But the eurozone financial crisis and political stalemate over how to reduce the massive US budget deficit may make companies reluctant to ramp up hiring. Last year marked the best year for US workers since 2006, as employers added 1.64 million workers. But despite the gains, little progress has been made in recovering the 8.75 million jobs lost as a result of the recession that ended in June 2009.
