Unemployment drops to 8.5 percent in December

The unemployment rate is at its lowest level in nearly three years thank to hiring boost in December. The Labor Department says employers added a net 200,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent, the lowest since February 2009. The rate has dropped for four straight months. The drop in unemployment rate gave the economy a boost at the end of 2011.

For all of 2011, the economy added 1.6 million jobs, better than the 940,000 added in 2010. The unemployment rate averaged 8.9 percent last year, down from 9.6 percent the previous year.