The Unemployment Rate Drops Slightly To 4.2% For August

The Labor Department released the unemployment report for August on Friday. It showed the economy produced about 142,000 jobs for the month - pushing the unemployment rate to 4.2% (down by 0.1% from July).

Here are the relevant statistics for August:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

168,549,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

7,115,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.2%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:

Adult men...............4.0%

Adult Women...............3.7%

Teens (16-19)...............14.1%

Whites...............3.8%

Blacks...............6.1%

Asians...............4.1%

Hispanics...............5.5%

NO HS diploma...............7.1%

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

Some college...............3.4%

Bachelor's deg or more...............2.5%

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

1,401,000

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

8,516,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

5.05%