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

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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.