Unemployment Rate Remains Stuck At 4.1% For 6th Month

The Labor Department has released it's employment statistics for the month of March, and its not good news. The economy produced only an anemic 103,000 jobs. The unemployment rate remained at 4.1% for the sixth straight month (mainly because the civilian work force shrunk by about 158,000).

Trump (and the Republicans) told us that the huge tax cuts they gave to corporations would result in massive job growth, as those corporations would use that money to create new jobs and give workers raises. That has not happened. The corporations have instead used those tax savings to buy back their own stock (driving up the price of those stocks and rewarding owners and corporate management).

That should not surprise anyone. The only thing that creates jobs is an increase in demand -- and since most Americans do not have more money to spend (through either a raise or a tax cut or a new job), demand has not increased. In fact, thanks to the tariffs Trump is trying to impose on some countries (especially China), we can expect higher prices (which will depress demand) and job losses (which will also depress demand). Trump promised massive new job creation, but is instituting policies that will NOT increase demand.

Here are the relevant statistics for March.

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

161,763,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

6,585,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.1%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:

Adult men...............3.7%
Adult women...............3.7%
Teenagers (16-19)...............13.5%
Whites...............3.6%
Blacks...............6.9%
Hispanics...............5.1%
Asians...............3.1%
Less than HS diploma...............5.5%
HS graduate...............4.3%
Some college...............3.6%
Bachelor's degree or more...............2.2%

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

1,454,000

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

8,039,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

5.0%