Economy Added 200,000 Jobs, Unemployment Reaches Three-Year Low in December

By Catherine Hollander  //  January 6, 2012 | 8:54 a.m.

The economy added 200,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent, the lowest level in nearly three years, the Labor Department reported on Friday.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg ahead of the release expected payrolls to add 155,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to rise to 8.7 percent. It takes about 90,000 new jobs every month just to keep pace with population growth.

Employers added 100,000 jobs in November, a 20,000-job downward revision from earlier reports. The surprising drop in unemployment from 9.0 to 8.6 percent in November was partly due to job seekers becoming discouraged and no longer looking for work. Last month's unemployment rate was the lowest since February, 2009.

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