The Labor Department released statistics for July on Friday. It showed that about 187,000 jobs were created, lowering the unemployment rate back down to 3.5%.
Here are the relevant stats for July:
SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:
167,103,000
OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:
5,841,000
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
3.5%
DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:
Adult men...............3.3%
Adult women...............3.1%
Teens (16-19)...............11.3%
White...............3.1%
Black...............5.8%
Asian...............2.3%
Hispanic...............4.4%
No HS diploma...............5.2%
HS graduate...............3.4%
Some college...............3.1%
Bachelor's deg. or more...............2.0%
NUMBER OF MARGINALLY-ATTACHED WORKERS (unemployed but not counted):
1,398,000
MORE REALISTIC NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS (official + marginally-attached):
7,239,000
MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
4.3%