The Labor Department has released it's unemployment figures for July. While 215,000 new jobs were created, the unemployment rate remained at 5.3% (the same rate as it was in June). That's because the number of newly employed workers barely exceeded to number of new entrants to the civilian labor force.
The rate is 0.9% below what it was a year ago (in July of 2014), but the economy seems to be struggling to get the rate lower than it currently is. It has been stuck in the 5.5% to 5.3% range for six months now -- and is likely to stay in that range, since the Republicans continue to block any job creation efforts (still putting their faith in the failed "trickle-down" policy that says lowering taxes for the rich will create jobs).
Here are the relevant statistics for July.
SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORKFORCE:
157,106,000
OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:
8,266,000
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
5.3%
DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:
Adult men...............4.8%
Adult women...............4.9%
Teenagers (16-19)...............16.2%
Whites...............4.6%
Blacks...............9.1%
Hispanics...............6.8%
Asians...............4.0%
Less than HS diploma...............8.3%
HS diploma...............5.5 %
Some college...............4.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher...............2.6%
NUMBER OF MARGINALLY-ATTACHED WORKERS (No longer counted because they didn't look for work in the last four weeks):
1,927,000
MORE REALISTIC NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS (Official + Marginally-attached):
10,193,000
MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
6.49%
NUMBER OF UNDEREMPLOYED WORKERS (Working part-time because they can't find full-time work):
6,325,000
NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED/UNDEREMPLOYED WORKERS:
16,518,000
UNEMPLOYMENT/UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE:
10.5%
