U.S. Unemployment Rate Drops By 0.2 Points To 3.6%

The Labor Department released it unemployment statistics for March on Friday. It showed that significant job creation continues in the economy -- with 431,000 jobs being created in March. That helped to reduce the unemployment rate from 3.8% to 3.6% -- a figure close to what economists consider as "full employment". 

Don't be fooled though. While the unemployment rate is good, and probably should be celebrated, there are still many out of work that are no longer being counted -- mainly women that cannot afford child care on the low wages they are being offered. Biden's Build Back Better Act would have fixed that and allowed them to return to work, but Congress was not smart enough to pass it.

Here are the relevant statistics for March:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

164,409,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

5,952,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

3.6%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:

Adult men...............3.4%

Adult women...............3.3%

Teens (16-19)...............10.0%

White...............3.2%

Black...............6.2%

Asian...............2.8%

Hispanic...............4.2%

Less than HS diploma...............5.2%

HS graduate...............4.0%

Some college...............3.0%

Bachelor's Deg. or more...............2.0%

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

1,360,000

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

7,312,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.44%