America’s monthly unemployment rate has fallen to 9%—lowest level for almost two years. The US jobless rate dropped in January from 9.4 to 9% – the second monthly fall.

However, economists are not jumping for joy as the number of new jobs is much than lower than expected.

Analysts believe much of the result is due to Americans giving up looking for work, with only 36,000 new jobs created last month. Unusually, most of the new employment came from the US manufacturing sector, while other parts of the still fragile economy gave up jobs.

The mixed unemployment report has led to a lacklustre trading day on Wall Street.