BLS: Unemployment Drops (3.9%), Labor Force Participation Increases (61.9%)

The Labor Department's final employment report of 2021, released on Friday morning, shows steady improvement since January a year ago.

But labor force participation remains a concern, as does the number of Americans counted as not in the labor force -- not working and not looking for work, for whatever reason. Those are just two of the Labor Department measures of economic health that have not rebounded to their pre-pandemic levels.

And notably, today's report does not fully account for the recent holiday omicron surge.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics...