The Official Unemployment Rate Is 8.4% For August

The Labor Department has released its official unemployment statistics for the month of August. It shows the unemployment rate remains very high. It was 8.4% for August. The official number of unemployed workers is 13,550,000. Trump will brag about that, but it remains a figure more than twice that of August a year ago. We continue to be in the midst of a recession that is deeper than any since the Great Depression -- and it won't be fixed until the Coronavirus is controlled (which Trump continues to ignore and lie about).

Here are the relevant statistics for the month of August:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

160,838,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

13,550,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

8.4%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:

Adult men.....8.0%

Adult women.....8.4%

Teens (16-19).....16.1%

Whites.....7.3%

Blacks.....13.0%

Asians.....10.7%

Hispanics.....10.5%

Less than HS diploma.....12.6%

HS graduate.....9.8%

Some college.....8.0%

Bachelors deg. or more.....5.3%

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

2,080,000

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

15,630,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

9.7%