December Jobs Report: Hispanic Unemployment Down Slightly

This Friday, Dec. 7, 2012, photo, shows a construction worker at a new site for a future Fresh & Easy supermarket in Los Angeles. The average number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits in December fell to the lowest level since March 2008, a sign that the job market is healing. (Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo)

The economy is slowly improving, according to the new jobs report released Friday by the Department of Labor.

Unemployment remained virtually the same at 7.8 percent, from 7.7 percent in November. It dropped below 8 percent in September for the first time in nearly four years.

There were 12.2 million unemployed workers, compared with 12 million unemployed workers in November.

Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo

This Friday, Dec. 7, 2012, photo, shows a... View Full Size

Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo

This Friday, Dec. 7, 2012, photo, shows a construction worker at a new site for a future Fresh & Easy supermarket in Los Angeles. The average number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits in December fell to the lowest level since March 2008, a sign that the job market is healing.

The economy added approximately 155,000 nonfarm jobs in December. The Department of Labor revised nonfarm job gains in November to 161,000 from an original estimate of 146,000.

Employment in healthcare, food services and drinking places, construction and manufacturing increased in Novemberr, while employment in retail industries, mining, financial services and other major industries showed little change.

The Hispanic unemployment rate remains higher than the national average at 9.6 percent, down slightly from the Hispanic unemployment rate of 10 percent in November.

Determining the number of jobs that were created in December is more complicated than normal because of seasonal holiday hiring.