Encouraging News on Jobs and Joblessness

Payroll employment continued to increase and joblessness fell in November, providing fresh evidence that the health of the economy and the labor market is improving. For the fourth successive month both the employer payroll survey and the household survey showed gains in employment. The jump in employment in the household survey was once again considerably faster than it was in the employer survey (+278,000 versus +120,000). Over the past four months employment gains in the household survey have outpaced the increase in payroll jobs by 750,000 (+1.28 million versus +0.53 million). Though the gap may be puzzling, both surveys now show that employment gains are occurring fast enough to push down the unemployment rate.
http://www.brookings.edu/up-front/posts/2011/12/02-jobs-burtless