The Labor Department released its statistics for September on Friday. It showed the economy produced 194,000 new jobs, and the unemployment rate dropped by 0.4% -- to 4.8%. That's the first time in the last 18 months that the rate has been below 5.0%.
Here are the relevant statistics for September:
SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:
161,354,000
OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:
7,674,000
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
4.8%
DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:
Adult men...............4.7%
Adult women...............4.2%
Teens (16-19)...............11.5%
Whites...............4.2%
Blacks...............7.9%
Asians...............4.2%
Hispanics...............6.3%
Less than HS diploma...............7.9%
HS graduate...............5.8%
Some college...............4.5%
Bachelor's deg. or more...............2.5%
NUMBER OF MARGINALLY-ATTACHED WORKERS (unemployed but not counted):
1,744,000
MORE REALISTIC NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS (official + marginally-attached):
9,418,000
MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
5.8%