U.S. Unemployment Rate Finally Dips Below 5% (To 4.9%)

The Labor Department has released its unemployment statistics for the month of January, and it's some fairly good news. For the first time in eight years, the official unemployment rate is below 5% -- coming in at 4.9% for January. The nation's unemployment rate had been stuck at 5% for the last three months, so it's good to see it finally drop to 4.9%.

Of course, it should be significantly lower than 4.9% by now, and it would have been if the congressional Republicans hadn't blocked every effort to make the economy better. If the minimum wage was a livable wage, the corporations stopped from getting tax breaks to export good American jobs, and the unions were strengthened, there would be a huge boost to the economy -- and it would create many jobs and lower the number of people needing government assistance. Unfortunately, that won't happen until the Republicans are voted out of power -- because they cling to their failed "trickle-down" and "austerity" models.

Here are the relevant statistics for January:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

158,335,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

7,791,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.9%

DEMOGRAPHIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATES (OFFICIAL):

Adult men...............4.5%
Adult women...............4.5%
Teens (16-19)...............16.0%
Whites...............4.3%
Blacks...............8.8%
Hispanics...............5.9%
Asians...............3.7%
Less than HS diploma...............7.4%
HS grad...............5.3%
Some college...............4.2%
Bachelors deg. or more...............2.5%

"MARGINALLY-ATTACHED" UNEMPLOYED (no longer included in official count):

2,089,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBER (includes marginally-attached):

9,880,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

6.24%

NUMBER OF UNDEREMPLOYED WORKERS (working part-time because full-time work is not available):

5,988,000

NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED / UNDEREMPLOYED WORKERS:

15,868,000

UNEMPLOYMENT / UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE:

10.02%