Labor Department figures released Friday show the unemployment rate fell to its lowest point since December 2008.

The jobless rate fell to 7.7 percent last month with the economy adding 146,000 jobs in November.

That number fell from 7.9 percent in October.

The government said it's mostly because a larger number of people stopped looking for work and consequently weren't counted as unemployed.

Sandy sparked an increase in job loss in the construction sector, which saw about 20,000 jobs cut.