The United States economy produced 160,000 new jobs in April. But that was not enough to lower the unemployment rate, and it remained at 5.0% for April. In fact, it looks like the unemployment rate has bottomed out at around 5%. This is the ninth month in a row that the rate has been between 4.9% and 5.1% -- and it seems unable to get any lower.
I believe this is because of the austerity the congressional Republicans have imposed on the budget. At a time when new money needs to be put into the economy to jumpstart it, they have taken money out of the economy by cutting government programs unnecessarily.
Here are the relevant statistics for April:
SIZE OF CIVILIAN WORKFORCE:
158,924,000
OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:
7,920,000
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
5.0%
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT DEMOGRAPHICALLY:
Adult men...............4.6%
Adult women...............4.5%
Teens (16-19)...............16.0%
Whites...............4.3%
Blacks...............8.8%
Hispanics...............6.1%
Asians...............3.8%
Less than HS diploma...............7.5%
HS grad...............5.4%
Some college...............4.1%
Bachelor's or higher...............2.4%
