The Labor Department released its statistics for October. It showed that only 128,000 jobs were created -- marking the forth month in a row that job creation was significantly under 200,000. It could not cover the rise in the number of new entrants to the workforce (about 325,000 workers). And this time, it pushed the official unemployment rate up by one-tenth of a point to 3.6%.
Here are the relevant statistics for October:
SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:
164,364,000
OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:
5,855,000
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
3.6%
DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:
Adult men...............3.2%
Adult women...............3.2%
Teenagers (16-19)...............12.3%
White...............3.2%
Black...............5.4%
Hispanic...............4.1%
Asian...............2.9%
Less than HS degree...............5.6%
HS diploma...............3.7%
Some college...............2.9%
Bachelor's degree or more...............2.1%
NUMBER OF MARGINALLY-ATTACHED UNEMPLOYED (No longer counted):
1,229,000
MORE REALISTIC NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED (Official + Marginally-attached):
7,084,000
MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
4.3%