(Image Source: The Washington Post)

BY JONATHAN KETZ

It’s the lowest it’s been in more than two years. Not since March of 2009--- has the unemployment rate dropped this low -- 8.6%. The U.S. economy added 120,000 jobs in November. CNN has more.

“So now we know about 120,000 jobs in November, but in October, October had a big revision. 200,000 jobs were created in October, and if you look at September, about 210,000 jobs were created then. So if you look at the last three months, you can see that jobs were more plentiful than we had thought.”

It’s the decline in that job creation though that caught the eye of the Wall Street Journal. Even though the country’s produced more than 100,000 jobs---the Journal’s a little disappointed.

“The expectation especially after we got some better economic data lately was climbing up towards the 150, 175, even the 200,000 range. So again, only 120,000 a bit of a headline disappointment.”

With 315,000 leaving the workforce, analysts say the unemployment number was aided---making it look better than it really is. CNBC’s Rick Santelli explains.

“I want to see the labor force participation rate because personally, I don’t trust the unemployment rate and when you throw in the politics in the day because it resonates in the day, there’s a lot of different movement in these numbers that could alter this significantly.”

The number of people in the workforce dropped .2 percent in November. One business that would like to have more participation right now---the welding business. They’re looking for more workers. But as Fox News tells us, they can’t find enough people trained.

“We’re talking $80,000 a year positions. Welders, Pipe fitters, machinists, skilled labor, and that’s exactly the problem. A deficit of laborers trained with specific skills.”

According to Reuters, November’s jobless rate is the biggest drop since January.