CBS: Unemployment falls to 7.4%

Out of more than 3 million people in the civilian work force, 2.8 million were employed and 223,000 were unemployed
 
The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported last Sunday that the rate of unemployment fell to the lowest point in a year in the fourth quarter of 2009 as continued growth in the country’s economy started to create jobs.
 
Unemployment was down to 7.4% in the fourth quarter, on a seasonally adjusted basis, from 7.7% in the previous quarter.
 
The figures released by the CBS showed that in the fourth quarter of 2009, out of more than 3 million people in the civilian work force, 2.8 million were employed and 223,000 were unemployed.
 
Of those people working, 1.482 million were men (up from 1.475 million in the previous quarter), and 1.332 million were women (up from 1.311 million).
 
The labor participation rate in the fourth quarter of last year remained steady at 56.6% similar to level in the third quarter. Participation rate was higher among men at 61.4%, compared with 52.1% among women.