CARACAS, Venezuela (AP):

Venezuela's unemployment rate closed at 8.4 per cent in December, down from 8.9 per cent a year ago, the government has reported.

The total number of jobless Venezuelans in December fell to 1,038,779 while Venezuela's total work force stood at 12,323,877 or 66 per cent of the total population, the National Statistics Institute announced.

The government does not include people pursuing studies in state-funded social programmes or working in part-time jobs in its employment surveys.

Venezuela's biggest employer is the government, which provides jobs for almost two million people.

In 2005, the jobless rate declined by 6.6 percentage points to close the year at 8.9 per cent.