The Unemployment Rate For January Was 6.3%

The Labor Department has released its unemployment statistics for the month of January. It showed the unemployment rate dropped to 6.3%, even though only 49,000 jobs were created during the month. The drop was mainly due to the civilian workforce shrinking by about 406,000 workers.

The 6.3% rate is the last of the Trump administration. It was about 1.5 points higher than the 4.8% rate in January of 2017 -- the final number of the Obama administration. The current rate will not drop significantly until the COVID-19 pandemic is controlled. Fortunately, we now have an administration that is taking the virus seriously.

Here are the relevant statistics for the month of January.

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORKFORCE:

160,161,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

10,130,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

6.3%

DEMOGRAPHIC PICTURE OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:

Adult men...............6.0%

Adult women...............6.0%

Teens (16-19)...............14.8%

Whites...............5.7%

Blacks...............9.2%

Asians...............6.6%

Hispanics...............8.6%

Less than HS grad...............9.1%

HS graduate...............7.1%

Some college...............6.2%

Bachelor's deg. or more...............4.0%

NUMBER OF MARGINALLY-ATTACHED WORKERS (Unemployed but not counted):

1,917,000

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

12,047,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

7.5%