The US economy added 74,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate fell from 7% to 6.7%.

When I first saw the headline, I was pretty excited. But then I kept reading.

That’s because the number of jobs added last month was the lowest in three years. And according to Wall Street blogger Phil Izzo, the unemployment rate went down not because more people got jobs but because so many people simply gave up and stopped looking for work.

Izzo says,

The number of people employed jumped by a huge 143,000, meaning that more people got jobs last month. The problem is that the number is dwarfed by the 347,000 who dropped out of the labor force.

But before we get too depressed, is there a better way? Hit the “Learn More” tab to find out about how to effect meaningful, sustainable job creation.

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Photo courtesy of Lafayette College and chart courtesy of Quartz.