US unemployment falls to 9.4%; Wilmington metro unemployment at 9.9%

WASHINGTON (AP) – The nation’s unemployment rate dropped to 9.4
percent last month, its lowest level in 19 months. That was because
more people found jobs, but also because some people gave up on
their job searches.

The Labor Department says employers added 103,000 jobs in
December, an improvement from November’s revised total of 71,000
but far below most analysts’ expectations.

Once unemployed workers stop looking for work, the government no
longer counts them as unemployed.

Through all of 2010, the nation added 1.1 million jobs, or an
average of 94,000 jobs a month.

The North Carolina Employment Security Commission says Wilmington
metro unemployment went up in November, from 9.0% to 9.9%.