Sour news on jobs: Fewest working, or looking for work, since 1978
NEW YORK -- Job growth slumped sharply in December, falling far short of expectations. The economy added only 74,000 jobs in December, according to the Department of Labor.
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This was the weakest month for job growth since January 2011 and came as a huge surprise to economists, who were expecting an addition of 193,000 jobs.
For all of 2013, the economy added 2.2 million jobs -- on par with 2012's gains.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 6.7% in December, but the drop came mainly from workers leaving the labor force.
Only 62.8% of the adult population is participating in the labor market -- meaning they either have a job or are looking for one. That matches the lowest level since 1978.
In the job market's 2007 heyday, unemployment was under 5%, but in the two years that followed, the recession wiped out 8.7 million jobs. To this day, not all those jobs have returned.