Unemployment in the United States has fallen to its lowest level for more than two and a half years.
The latest jobs report has it down from 9% in October to 8.6% in the month of November.
On the surface it is good news, the ABC reports - 120,000 Americans found jobs in November and there has now been robust jobs growth for four consecutive months.
But one of the reasons for the sharp drop in joblessness is the large number of people who gave up looking for work and were therefore no longer counted as part of the labour force.
President Barack Obama is not overplaying news of the 32-month low.
"Our longer-term challenge is rebuilding an economy where hard work is valued and responsibility is rewarded and the middle class and folks who are trying to get into the middle class regain some security," he says.
Among the unemployed, too, there are frightening numbers of long-term jobless; and the pace of hiring remains too slow to suggest a significant acceleration in the labour market recovery.
Across America, 13 million people are still looking for work.
But the report does reinforce other data showing strengthening private-sector hiring and better than expected holiday sales.
The positive news did help the US markets open higher, but they flatlined as traders focused on the negatives in the jobs report.
