May Unemployment Rate Drops By 0.3 Points To 5.8%

The Labor Department announced its unemployment statistics for the month of May on Friday. It showed the economy produced 559,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate dropped by o.3 points to 5.8% -- the first time it's been below 6% since the pandemic started. This is still not indicative of a great economy (which would have a rate between 3% and 4%), but it shows the economy is finally moving in the right direction as more people are immunized and more businesses able to open.

Here are the relevant statistics for May:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

160,935,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

9,316,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

5.8%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATES:

Adult men...............5.9%

Adult women...............5.4%

Teens (16-19)...............9.6%

Whites...............5.1%

Blacks...............9.1%

Asians...............5.5%

Hispanics...............7.3%

Less than HS diploma...............9.1%

HS graduate...............6.8%

Some college...............5.9%

Bachelor's deg. or more...............3.2%

NUMBER OF MARGINALLY-ATTACHED WORKERS (Unemployed but no longer included in the official count):

1,955,000

MORE REALISTIC NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS (Official + Marginally-attached):

11,271,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

7.0%