The Official Unemployment Rate For September Is 7.9%

The Labor Department released its employment statistics for the month of September on Friday. It showed that about 661,000 workers went back to work in the month, but the official unemployment rate dropped only 0.5% -- to 7.9%. There are still 12,580,000 workers unemployed officially.

Here are the relevant statistics for September:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORKFORCE:

160,143,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

12,580,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

7.9%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:

Adult men...............7.4%

Adult women...............7.7%

Teens (16-19)...............15.9%

Whites...............7.0%

Blacks...............12.1%

Asians...............8.9%

Hispanics...............10.3%

Less than HS diploma...............10.6%

HS graduate...............9.0%

Some college...............8.1%

Bachelor's deg. or more...............4.8%

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

1,922,000

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

14,502,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

9.05%