November Unemployment Rate Rises Slightly To 4.2%

The Labor Department released its unemployment report for November on Friday. It showed the economy created a healthy 227,000 jobs for the month. That was good enough to keep the unemployment rate at a low 4.2% (only 0.1% over October). 

Are are the relevant statistics for November:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

168,286,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

7,145,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.2%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:

Adult men...............3.9%

Adult women...............3.9%

Teens (16-19)...............13.2%

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

Blacks...............6.4%

Asians...............3.8%

Hispanics...............5.3%

Less than HS diploma...............6.0%

HS graduate...............4.6%

Some college...............3.6%

Bachelor's deg. or more...............2.4%

NUMBER OF MARGINALLY-ATTACHED WORKERS (unemployed but no longer counted):

1,572,000

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

8,717,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

5.18%