Unemployment has been an ongoing issue for a while since the economic recession hit not too long ago. However, according to an article in the Washington Post, the number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell further last week, which ended the year on a three-month run of declines that are pointing to a stronger hiring in 2012.

Applications that have been coming in weekly, dropped by 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 372,000 last week, the Labor Department said. This is 11 percent lower than the same time last year and a positive sign ahead of Friday’s important read on job growth in December.

Applications trending downward are one of several signs that the economy ended the year gaining some momentum. For the holiday season, retailers reported good sales and consumer confidence rising to the highest level since April, November and December for the strongest months in 2011 for auto sales.

Overall trending is positive and economists are predicting that hiring increased in December and will strengthen in 2012.

In November, the unemployment rate fell from 9 percent to 8.6. Half of this decline occurred because people have stopped looking for jobs. Once you stop looking for a job, you can no longer be considered unemployed.

Pickups in hiring are reflective of some of the most modest improvements in the economy. Economists are hoping growth will top 3 percent at an annual rate in the final three months of this year. Economists however, are fearful that growth could be slow in the first half of 2012.