December 04, 2009 06:49 PM UTC

National Unemployment Rate Drops

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• by: Colorado Pols

From the Wall Street Journal:

U.S. job losses in November posted the smallest drop since the start of the recession and the unemployment rate unexpectedly declined, a sign the labor market is finally healing as the economy recovers.

Nonfarm payrolls fell by just 11,000 last month, slowing down from a downwardly revised 111,000 drop seen in October, as the recovery encouraged some companies to retain workers, the Labor Department said Friday.

It was the best showing since December 2007, when the recession began and payrolls had risen by 120,000. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a payroll decrease of 125,000…

The payroll data reflect a notable improvement in the jobs market. In the prior three months, payroll job losses had averaged 135,000 a month.

“We are one step closer today to the stabilization of the labor market,” said Chris Rupkey of Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi. “The massive job cuts during the financial crisis last fall were too aggressive and firms will need to rehire staff within the next couple of months.”

Nobody’s saying we are out of the woods by any stretch, but obviously this is good news for the American worker–and for Democrats, whose political fortunes are linked at the hip to what happens with the economy over the next 11 months. If the economy isn’t noticeably better by next summer, it’s going to be hard for Democrats to win no matter what they say or do.

It’s also worth pointing out that Colorado’s unemployment rate, last estimated at 6.9%, is substantially below the falling national average. You’d think that this would complicate the doomsaying from the GOP against Governor Bill Ritter, but we fully expect all this talk of “recovery” to get enthusiastically pooh-poohed at every step between now and next November–no matter what happens in the real world.