Unemployment Rate Drops To 4.0% In January

 

The Labor Department released it unemployment report for January on Friday. It showed the economy produced only 143,000 jobs in the month, but that was good enough to lower the unemployment rate to 4.0% (from 4.1% in December).

Here are the relevant statistics for January:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

170,744,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

6,849,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.0%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:

Adult men...............3.7%

Adult women...............3.7%

Teens (16-19)...............11.8%

Whites...............3.5%

Blacks...............6.2%

Asians...............3.7%

Hispanics...............4.8%

Less than HS diploma...............5.7%

HS graduate...............4.5%

Some college...............3.5%

Bachelor's deg. or more...............2.3%

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

1,590,000

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

8,439,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.9%