Unemployment Rate Stuck At 5% For Third Month In A Row

The Labor Department has released its unemployment figures for the month of December. The economy created about 292,000 jobs in December, but since the civilian workforce rose by 466,000, that was barely enough jobs to keep the unemployment rate steady at 5.0%. It has remained at 5.0% for three months in a row now (and in the 5.0% to 5.1% range at five months).

One might have thought that the thousands of jobs created in the last few months would have caused an economic bump in the economy, and spurred enough job creation to get the unemployment rate below 5.0% -- but that hasn't happened. I think one reason is that far too many of the new jobs are low-wage jobs in traditionally low-wage industries. These jobs barely provide a subsistence level for the new workers, and don't allow them to buy anything but the barest necessities. That's certainly no way to stimulate the economy -- and points to the critical need for a significant rise in the minimum wage (which the GOP Congress absolutely refuses to do).

Here are the relevant numbers for December:

SIZE OF CIVILIAN WORKFORCE:

157,833,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

7,904,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

5.0%

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY DEMOGRAPHIC:

Adult men...............4.7%
Adult women...............4.4%
Teenagers (16-19)...............16.1%
Whites...............4.5%
Blacks...............8.3%
Hispanics...............6.3%
Asians...............4.0%
Less than HS diploma...............6.7%
HS diploma...............5.6%
Some college...............4.1%
Bachelor's degree or more...............2.5%

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBER (includes marginally-attached):

9,737,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

6.2%

NUMBER OF UNDEREMPLOYED WORKERS (can't find full-time work):

6,022,000

NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED & UNDEREMPLOYED WORKERS:

15,759,000

UNEMPLOYMENT/UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE:

9.98%