US unemployment fell in January to 9% from 9.4% a month earlier, the Department of Labor said.
It is the second such monthly fall, after unemployment fell from a rate of 9.8% in November.
But despite this, the number of jobs created, at 36,000, was far below the expected 140,000.
The poor figure may have been due to blizzards during January, which are thought to have kept many workers at home.
The total number of unemployed fell by 600,000 versus December, according to the data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Some economists interpreted the drop in unemployment as symptomatic of a long-term decline in overall employment levels.
As job-seekers give up looking for work, they ceased to be classified as unemployed.
The number of people "marginally attached to the workforce" - meaning they were not actively looking but available to work - stood at 2.8 million, up from 2.5 million a year earlier.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12364507
06/02/2011, 15:20
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