WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — In another mark of economic progress, the number of Americans getting unemployment benefits in early November fell to the lowest level in 14 years.

That’s the good news. The bad news? The economy and the labor market are still not even close to being as good now as they were the last time when so-called continuing claims were this low.

Continuing claims fell 73,000 to 2.33 million in the week ended Nov. 8, bringing the number of people collecting jobless benefits each week down to the lowest amount since December 2000.

There are important differences between now and then, however.

The unemployment rate, for example. has fallen sharply over the past year to a six-year low of 5.8% in October, but that’s still significantly higher compared to the 3.9% rate in the last month of 2000.

Some 2.9 million Americans have been out of work for six months or longer, an especially debilitating problem with pernicious effects on a person’s lifetime earnings. Back in December 2000 a mere 642,000 people had been out of work for six months or more.

The number of people who can only find part-time jobs now is still more than twice as high at 7.03 million compared to 3.24 million in December 2000.

A big reason many people are no longer collecting unemployment checks is because their benefits ran out. Some eventually found jobs, but others retired, applied for disability benefits or may have sought welfare benefits.

Not surprisingly, the percentage of Americans in the labor force has sharply declined. The participation rate has fallen to 62.8% from 67% in December 2000.

The decline in the participation rate actually started well before the 2007-2009 recession, and the retirement of the first wave of baby boomers has been a major contributor in the past few years, but the weakest recovery in the post World War Two era has also played a role.