US jobless rate slides to 8.5% in Dec

In fresh signs of an improvingAmerican labour market, the USadded two lakh new jobs in the month of December, which also saw a drop in theunemployment rate to 8.5 per cent, according to the latest government figuresreleased on Friday.

The Decemberunemployment rate was lower than expected, as the same was anticipated to bearound 8.7 per cent last month.

"Non-farmpayroll employment rose by 2,00,000 in December and the unemployment rate, at8.5 per cent, continued to trend down," Bureau of Labour StatisticsCommissioner Keith Hall said, releasing the latest job figures.

Job gains occurredin transportation and warehousing, retail trade, manufacturing, health care andmining, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics said.

While employment intransportation and warehousing rose by 50,000 in December, the couriers andmessengers industry accounted for almost all of the gains (+42,000), asseasonal hiring was particularly strong in December.

"This mayreflect increased online purchasing during the holiday season," Hall said.

Since August, theunemployment rate has declined by 0.6 percentage points.

The unemploymentrate stood at 8.7 per cent in November.

The encouragingemployment numbers come against the backdrop of rising global economicuncertainty, especially due to the European debt turmoil.

In December, theunemployment rate for adult men declined to 8 per cent. "The jobless ratesfor adult women (7.9 per cent), teenagers (23.1 per cent), whites (7.5 percent), blacks (15.8 per cent) and Hispanics (11 per cent) showed littlechange," the statement noted.

Last month, thenumber of long-term unemployed -- those jobless for 27 weeks or more -- stoodat 5.6 million, accounting for 42.5 per cent of the total jobless people.