The Labor Department released the unemployment report for May on Friday. It showed the economy produced a healthy 272,000 new jobs for the month. The unemployment rate rose by 0.1% to 4.0%. That ended the record 27 month run of the rate being below 4.0% - but 4.0% is still a good rate.
Here are the relevant statistics for the month of May.
SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:
167,732,000
OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:
6,649,000
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
4.0%
DEMOGRAPHICS OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:
Adult men...............3.8%
Adult women...............3.4%
Teens (16-19)...............12.3%
Whites...............3.5%
Blacks...............6.1%
Asians...............3.1%
Hispanics...............5.0%
Less than HS diploma...............5.9%
HS graduate...............4.3%
Some college...............3.1%
Bachelor's deg. or more............... 2.1%
NUMBER OF MARGINALLY-ATTACHED WORKERS (unemployed but no counted):
1,525,000
MORE REALISTIC NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS (marginally-attached + official):
8,174,000
MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
4.87%
