Unemployment Rate Drops 0.3% On Very Weak Job Growth

The Labor Department has released its unemployment figures for the month of May -- and on the surface, it looked like good news. That's because the unemployment rate dropped by 0.3% (from 5% in April to 4.7% in May). That's a fairly significant drop, and marks the first time in 9 months that the rate has dropped below the 4.9% to 5.1% range.

But don't pop the cork on that bottle of champagne and start the celebration. The rate didn't drop because of massive job creation in May. In fact, only a pathetic 38,000 jobs were created in May (the lowest total in many months). So, why did the rate drop? It dropped because the number of workers in the civilian labor force dropped in May by a whopping 458,000 workers (probably due to a mix of retiring workers and workers who've given up on trying to find a job).

What little growth there was occurred in health care (thanks to Obamacare). The manufacturing and mining industries (who normally have good-paying jobs) both lost a significant number of jobs. Other industries just held their own in May (neither gaining nor losing jobs).

Here are the relevant statistics for May.

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

158,466,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

7,436,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.7%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:

Adult men...............4.3%
Adult women...............4.2%
Teens (16-19)...............16.0%
Whites...............4.1%
Blacks...............8.2%
Hispanics...............5.6%
Asians...............4.1%
Less than HS diploma...............7.1%
HS graduate...............5.1%
Some college...............3.9%
Bachelor's degree or more...............2.4%

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

1,713,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

5.77%

NUMBER OF PART-TIME WORKERS LOOKING FOR FULL-TIME WORK:

6,430,000