The New Year welcomed an improved unemployment rate that President Obama hailed in his first weekly address of 2012.  The economy added 200,000 new jobs in December and boasted an 8.5% unemployment rate, the lowest it’s been in three years.

While any dip in unemployment is welcome, we have a long wayto go before we should be celebrating. While the President touted more than 3 million private-sector jobs over the past 22 months, what he didn’t advertise is that there are still more than 13 million Americans without a job today -- a number not expected to get better anytime soon. With this in mind, I find it hard to agree that we’re “heading in the right direction.”

In reality, December’s dip in unemployment is not purely amatter of Americans finding jobs, but partially due to some giving up on their search for work. Until we see an improved Labor Force Participation rate -- which combines employed persons with those who are unemployed but still looking – job growth will continue down the wrong path. I’m not an economist but I know itcan’t be good when that number has been falling for over a decade. Clearly people have lost faith in the economy and their ability to get a job.

It’s about time the Administration recognizes thecorrelation between business and workers. The very reason people drop out of the workforce is the very reason so many businesses have stopped hiring: uncertainty. Just as business owners are overwhelmed with the uncertainty of pending regulations, Americans are discouraged by the result -- a lack of hiring with no foreseeable certainty -- and thus exit the workforce.

Over the last year, the government has slapped numerous regulationson businesses, inhibiting their ability to grow and spur job creation. According to the National Federation of Independent Business, there are nearly 4,300 new regulations pending into 2012. That’s definitely not the certainty weshould be ringing in the New Year with. As the Administration continues to ride on its coat tails of hope and misguided triumph, job creation in America will keep wavering.