Dec 6, 2014 2 min read

There are still a couple of weeks to go before Santa Claus departs from the North Pole for his annual rounds, but Americans have been getting some early – and most welcome – gifts.

First, there are declining prices at the gas pump. Not all that long ago, paying $2.50 per gallon would have been an occasion for teeth-grinding. But since prices flirted with, and occasionally exceeded, $4 per gallon, $2.50 per gallon is an occasion for heel-clicking.

Then, on Friday, the monthly report from the Labor Department on employment found that an eye-opening 321,000 jobs were added in November, and that numbers for September and October were adjusted upward, with 44,000 additional jobs having been added in those months beyond the previous estimates. While the unemployment rate didn’t move from 5.8 percent, the numbers confirmed that 2014 will be the strongest year for job growth since 1999.

In Washington and Greene counties, the picture was even sunnier, with unemployment in the former at 4.7 percent and the latter at 3.9 percent, as per figures for October released Thursday from the Harrisburg-based Labor & Industry’s Center for Workforce Information and Analysis. This represents a 2 percent drop from this time a year ago, and puts both counties near the point of full employment.

Nonetheless, there are still grounds for concern. Gas prices are plummeting in part because the Chinese economy is slowing, and the economies within Europe are showing signs of wilting. Both developments could place a ball and chain on the economy here. Plus, wages have not yet shown signs of the growth, and too many Americans are barely eking out a living working several part-time jobs rather than one full-time job that comes with benefits and better wages.

Still, when you consider the long slog we have endured since the start of the Great Recession in 2007, these numbers should be a source of glad tidings for one and all.