The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 7.7% in November 2012 according to a U.S. Department of Labor press release on December 7, 2012.

According to the press release "total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 146,000 in November."

The report states that "the number of unemployed persons, at 12.0 million, changed little."

The report also notes that "the civilian labor force participation rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 63.6 percent in November, offsetting an increase of the same amount in October."

I think the decline in the participation rate is disappointing, but it's nice that the unemployment rate dropped and jobs were created, though it would have been great if several hundred thousand jobs had been created. I am pleasantly surprised that the November unemployment rate is lower than October's though.