April's Unemployment Rate Rises Slightly To 3.9%

 

The Labor Department released its unemployment report for April on Friday. It showed the economy produced about 175,000 new jobs, and the official unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.9%. That marks the 27th month in a row that the unemployment rate was below 4% (and ties the record set in 1952-53).

Here are the relevant statistics for April of 2024:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

167,982,000

NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

6,492,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

3.9%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:

Adult men...............3.6%

Adult women...............3.5%

Teens (16-19)...............11.7%

White...............3.5%

Black...............5.6%

Asian...............2.8%

Hispanic...............4.8%

Less than HS grad...............6.0%

HS graduate...............4.0%

Some college...............3.3%

Bachelor's deg. or more...............2.2%

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

1,565,000

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

8,057,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.79%