The Labor Department released the unemployment report for October on Friday. It showed the economy produced about 150,000 new jobs for the month. The unemployment rate rose slightly -- from 3.8% to 3.9%. Here are the relevant statistics for October:
SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:
167,728,000
OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:
6,506,000
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
3.9%
DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:
Adult men...............3.7%
Adult women...............3.3%
Teens (16-19)...............13.2%
Whites...............3.5%
Blacks...............5.8%
Asians...............3.1%
Hispanics...............4.8%
No HS diploma...............5.8%
HS graduate...............4.0%
Some college...............3.1%
Bachelor's deg. or more...............2.1%
NUMBER OF MARGINALLY-ATTACHED WORKERS (unemployed but not counted):
1,417,000
MORE REALISTIC NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED (official + marginally-attached):
77,923,000
MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
4.7%