The Labor Department released its unemployment numbers for January on Friday. The numbers were much better than expected -- with the economy creating a whopping 517,000 jobs. That was good enough to lower the unemployment rate to 3.4% (the lowest rate since 1969), even though the civilian labor force rose significantly.
Here are the relevant numbers for January.
SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:
165,832,000
OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:
5,694,000
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
3.4%
DEMOGRAPHICS OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:
Adult men...............3.2%
Adult women...............3.1%
Teens (16-19)...............10.3%
Whites...............3.1%
Blacks...............5.4%
Asians...............2.8%
Hispanics...............4.5%
No HS diploma...............4.5%
HS graduate...............3.7%
Some college...............2.9%
Bachelor's deg. or more...............2.0%
NUMBER OF MARGINALLY-ATTACHED WORKERS (unemployed but not counted):
1,354,000
MORE REALISTIC NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS (official + marginally-attached):
7,048,000
MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
4.2%