Unemployment rate is still far from normal- USAToday.com

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http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/01/10/unemployment-rate-is-still-far-from-normal/4411359/

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Although the recent times have seen many great strides in terms of the recovery of the economy in the United States, the figures of growth are rather poor when compared to the recent past.  From 1995 to August of 2008, when the economy was generally prospering in most areas, unemployment rates never rose above six percent, and job growth was very large.  Since the late 2000's, the economy has been recovering from a recession, and recently, unemployment rates, which had approached ten percent a few years ago, has seen an upturn as well.  Unfortunately, the current rates and figures are very poor when compared to that aforementioned period between 1995 and 2008.  Experts suggest that a very strong and successful economy should be functioning at around a five percent unemployment rate like what was seen during that period.  Today, although the unemployment rate has greatly decreased, it is also still around seven percent, which means it has a long way to go before widespread consideration of things being back to "normal" can be suggested.

Personally, I don't think it is completely fair to compare our current economic situation to the times before the recession.  First of all, international affairs, government officials, and all of those other factors from then are not at all the same as they are today.  Now, the economy has brand new factors to deal with every day that were not seen ten or more years ago.  And, chances are, in about twenty years or so there could be people trying to compare their situation to ours, and it simply isn't fair or justified.  Sure, the unemployment rate is close to two percent higher than it was before, but the population is also nearly twenty percent larger than it was in 1995.  This means that there are nearly fifty million people that need to be accounted for, and it's possible that there are just more people willing to work than their are jobs, regardless of any economic situation.

US job growth fell sharply in December- BBC.co.uk

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25685486

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While the previous months saw the unemployment in the United States fall to a five-year low of 6.7 percent, the job growth rate told a completely reversed story when it came to the overall growth of the country in December.  In the previous months, the average number of created in the country was at approximately 214 thousand per month.  In December, this rate fell significantly, to a pedestrian 74 thousand created jobs, which was barely a third of the averages from the previous months.  Additionally, reports published have also shown that the amount of discouraged workers (people who have given up the search for a job after a long time of looking without luck) has increased as well.  A third figure, the American labor force participation rate, which includes people working and those looking for work, has decreased to 62.8 percent.  This is close to the lowest this number has been in the last thirty five years.  Surprisingly, in contrast to these official reports, economists and other professionals expect economic improvement in 2014.  With a projected growth of about three percent, this would be a large increase from 2013, which saw an economic growth rate of approximately 1.7 percent.  One factor that could influence this is the change at the top of the Federal Reserve.  Current chairperson, Ben Bernake, is to be replaced by Janet Yellen on February 1st, leading to inquiries as to how the American economy will fare after the change.

JOB GROWTH RATES IN THE UNITED STATES IN 2013 (IN THOUSANDS)

Seeing the job growth rate take such a dramatic dive in December makes the condition of the American economy very difficult to figure out.  The previous months had seen such a promising incline, with job creation going well, unemployment falling, and more.  The negative momentum going into this new year is a bit unsettling, and hopefully the figure of unemployment can start to decrease again, the job growth can rise again, and the labor force can continue to grow again as well. If fewer people are motivated to work, more jobs must be created to increase the labor force, and make all of those explained factors move into the right direction as well.  Nonetheless, the economy has seen great overall improvements since the recession at the end of the last decade, and hopefully improvements can continue to be made for the future.