The Labor Department released it's statistics for April on Friday. The economy created 263,000 new jobs last month. Combined with a drop in the civilian work force of 490,000, that was enough to push the unemployment rate down -- from 3.8% in March to 3.6% in April.
Here are the relevant statistics for April:
CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:
162,470,000
OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:
5,824,000
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
3.6%
DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
Adult men...............3.4%
Adult women...............3.1%
Teenagers (16-19)...............13.0%
Whites...............3.1%
Blacks...............6.7%
Asians...............2.2%
Hispanics...............4.2%
Less than HS diploma...............5.4%
High School grad...............3.5%
Some college...............3.1%
Bachelor's deg. or more...............2.1%
MARGINALLY-ATTACHED UNEMPLOYED WORKERS (no longer counted):
1,417,000
MORE REALISTIC NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:
7,241,000
MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
4.46%
