US unemployment rate drops

The United States Labor Department is reporting a drop in the country’s unemployment rate in December.



Its figures show that the unemployment rate dropped to 9.4 per cent in December from 9.8 per cent in November, representing the biggest one-month drop since April 1998.



The Labor Department says 103,000 jobs were created last month, although this was fewer than the 145,000 to 175,000 that had been forecast.



The unemployment rate is now at its lowest since May 2009.