The Labor Department released its statistics for November on Friday. It showed that the unemployment rate for the month was 6.7% -- 0.2 points below the 6.9% rate for October. Most of that was due to a drop in the size of the civilian workforce.
Here are the relevant statistics for November:
SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORKFORCE:
160,467,000
OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:
10,735,000
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
6.7%
DEMOGRAPHIC PICTURE OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:
Adult men...............6.7%
Adult women...............6.1%
Teens (16-19)...............14.0%
White...............5.9%
Black...............10.3%
Asian...............6.7%
Hispanic...............8.4%
Less than HS diploma...............9.0%
HS graduate...............7.7%
Some college...............6.3%
Bachelor's deg or more...............4.2%
NUMBER OF MARGINALLY-ATTACHED UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:
2,083,000
MORE REALISTIC NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS (official + marginally-attached):
12,818,000
MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
7.987%
