Unemployment Rate Falls By 0.1% In April

The Labor Department has released the employment statistics for the month of April. It shows that 211,000 new jobs were created, and the unemployment rate fell by 0.1% -- from 4.5% in March to 4.4% in April. That's still significantly above the full employment rate (about 3%), but at least the number moved in the right direction.

I'm sure Trump will claim credit for the drop, but the truth is that it was done under the budget resolution passed under the Obama administration -- and even the new budget resolution recently passed is just a continuing of that same budget (with the addition of a little more money for the military and border surveillance). We won't know how Trump affects the economy (and unemployment) until he can pass a budget of his own (which would start in October) -- if the GOP Congress is even able to pass a budget.

Here are the relevant statistics for April:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE

160,213,000

NUMBER OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYED WORKERS

7,056,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

4.4%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT

Adult men...............4.0%
Adult women...............4.1%
Teenagers (16-19)...............14.7%
White...............3.8%
Black...............7.9%
Asian...............3.2%
Hispanic...............5.2%
Less than HS grad...............6.5%
High School grad...............4.6%
Some college...............3.7%
Bachelor's degree or more...............2.4%

NUMBER OF MARGINALLY-ATTACHED UNEMPLOYED (no longer counted)

1,534,000

MORE REALISTIC NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS (official + marginally-attached)

8,590,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

5.36%