Unemployment Rate Rises Slightly In October To 3.7%

The Labor Department has released its statistics for the month of October. It shows that 261,00 new jobs were created. In spite of that, the unemployment rate rose from 3.5% in September to 3.7% in October.

Here are the relevant statistics for October:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

164,667,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

6,059,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

3.7%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:

Adult men...............3.3%

Adult women...............3.4%

Teens (16-19)...............11.0%

Whites...............3.2%

Blacks...............5.9%

Asians...............2.9%

Hispanics...............4.2%

No HS diploma...............6.3%

HS graduate...............3.9%

Some college...............3.0%

Bachelor's deg or more...............1.9%

NUMBER OF MARGINALLY-ATTACHED WORKERS (unemployed but not counted):

1,504,000

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

7,563,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.59%