Unemployment Rate Stays At 3.7% For 3rd Month In A Row

The Labor Department has released its statistics for the month of November. They said the economy created 155,000 new jobs -- slightly disappointing since this is the season retailers normally hire more workers to handle higher holiday sales. That barely covered the rise in the civilian work force of 133,000 new workers. That means the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7% (for the third month in a row).

Here are the relevant statistics for November:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

162,770,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

5,975,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

3.7%

DEMOGRAPHIC LOOK AT OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATES:

Adult men...............3.3%
Adult women...............3.4%
Teens (16-19)...............12.0%
Whites...............3.4%
Blacks...............5.9%
Hispanics...............4.5%
Asians...............2.7%
Less than HS diploma...............5.6%
HS Graduate...............3.5%
Some college...............3.1%
Bachelor's deg. or more...............2.2%

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

1,678,000

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

7,653,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.7%