The Labor Department released its unemployment report for February on Friday. It showed the economy produced a healthy 275,000 jobs for the month. The unemployment rate rose slightly - from 3.7% in January to 3.9% in February. That marks the 22nd month in a row of unemployment below 4%.Here are the relevant statistics for February:
SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:
167,426,000
OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:
6,458,000
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
3.9%
DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:
Adult men...............3.5%
Adult women...............3.5%
Teens (16-19)...............12.5%
Whites...............3.4%
Blacks...............5.6%
Asians...............3.4%
Hispanics...............5.0%
No HS diploma...............6.1%
HS graduate...............4.2%
Some college...............3.1%
Bachelor's deg. or more...............2.2%
NUMBER OF MARGINALLY-ATTACHED WORKERS (unemployed but not counted):
1,558,000
MORE REALISTIC NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS (official + marginally-attached):
8,016,000
MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
4.79%
