February U.S. Unemployment Rate Is Unchanged at 4.9%

The Labor Department has released its official unemployment figures for the month of February -- and it remains unchanged at 4.9%. This marks the fifth month that the unemployment rate was either 5.0% or 4.9% -- making it harder and harder to low that rate.

We should already be at 4.0% or lower, since its been nearly 9 years since the Bush recession trashed the economy. But the Republican insistence on austerity budgets has pulled money out of the economy, lowering demand and job creation. They cling to their failed "trickle-down" economic policy -- saying if we lower taxes on the rich and corporation that will stimulate job growth.

The problem with the GOP view is that both the rich and corporations are making record profits, and are already sitting on a mountain of money. If they wanted to create jobs, they have plenty of money to do it. The jobs are not being created in large enough numbers because of weak demand for goods/services. And that demand will not be stimulated by giving more money to those who already have plenty.

It would not be hard to stimulate demand, and there are at least three things that could be done that would be budget neutral -- raise the minimum wage to $12-$15 an hour, stop the exporting of good American jobs, and strengthen the rights of labor unions. Restoring the money cut from government programs that help hurting Americans would not be budget neutral, but needs to be done also -- and that would also stimulate the economy and increase demand. That cost could be easily offset by slightly raising taxes on the rich, and making sure corporations pay their fair share of taxes (by cutting subsidies and not allowing them to stash profits in foreign countries).

Unfortunately, none of those things will be done as long as the Republicans control Congress -- and that makes the 2016 election very important.

Here are the relevant unemployment statistics for February:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

158,890,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

7,815,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.9%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

Adult men...............4.5%
Adult women...............4.5%
Teenagers (16-19)...............15.6%
Whites...............4.3%
Blacks...............8.8%
Hispanics...............5.4%
Asians...............3.8%
Less than HS diploma...............7.3%
HS graduate...............5.3%
Some college...............4.2%
Bachelor's degree or more...............2.5%

MORE REALISTIC NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS (Official count + Marginally-attached):

9,618,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

6.1%