U.S. Unemployment Rate Rises By 0.2% In December

The Labor Department released its unemployment statistics for December on Friday. The economy produced a pretty healthy 312,000 jobs. Normally, that would be enough to lower the unemployment rate, or at least keep it at the current level. But that was not true this time. The 312,000 new jobs did not even cover the new entrants to the labor force (419,000). The number of unemployed workers rose by 276,000 in December. That was enough to drive the unemployment rate up by 0.2% -- from 3.7% in November to 3.9% in December.

Here are the relevant statistics for December:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

163,240,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

6,294,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

3.9%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:

Adult men...............3.6%
Adult women...............3.5%
Teenagers (16-19)...............12.5%
Whites...............3.4%
Blacks...............6.6%
Hispanics...............4.4%
Asians...............3.3%
Less than HS diploma...............5.8%
HS graduate...............3.8%
Some college...............3.3%
Bachelor's degree or more...............2.1%

NUMBER OF MARGINALLY-ATTACHED UNEMPLOYED WORKERS (no longer included in the official count):

1,556,000

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

7,850,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.8%