Official Unemployment Rate Drops To 3.5% In March

The Labor Department released its monthly unemployment statistics on Friday. It showed that the unemployment rate dropped to 3.5% for March, and the economy produced about 236,000 new jobs. 

Here are the relevant statistics for March:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

166,731,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

5,839,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

3.5%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:

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

Adult women...............3.1%

Teens (16-19)...............9.8%

Whites...............3.2%

Blacks...............5.0%

Asians...............2.8%

Hispanics...............4.6%

Less than HS diploma...............4.8%

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

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

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

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

1,289,000

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

7,128,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.28%