The Labor Department has released its statistics for the month of September. Even though job creation was not great (only a tepid 136,000 jobs were created), the unemployment rate dropped from 3.7% in August to 3.5% in September.
Here are the relevant statistics for September:
SIZE OF CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:
164,039,000
OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:
5,769,000
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
3.5%
DEMOGRAPHICS OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
Adult men...............3.2%
Adult women...............3.1%
Teens (16-19)...............12.5%
White...............3.2%
Black...............5.5%
Hispanic...............2.5%
Asian...............3.9%
Less than HS diploma...............4.8%
HS graduate...............3.6%
Some college...............2.9%
Bachelor's degree or more...............2.0%
NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED NOT COUNTED (MARGINALLY-ATTACHED):
1,299,000
MORE REALISTIC NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED (official + marginally-attached):
7,068,000
MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
4.3%
