Unemployment Rate Rises To 3.8% In August

The Labor Department released its unemployment report for August on Friday. It showed the economy produced 187,000 new jobs in August. There was a 736,000 worker increase in the civilian work force, and an increase of 514,000 unemployed workers. That all combined to increase the unemployment rate from 3.5% to 3.8%.

Here are the relevant statistics for August:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

167,839,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

6,355,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

3.8%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:

Adult men...............3.7%

Adult women...............3.2%

Teens (16-19)...............12.2%

Whites...............3.4%

Blacks...............5.3%

Asians...............3.1%

Hispanics...............4.9%

No HS diploma...............5.4%

HS graduate...............3.8%

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

Bachelor's deg or more...............2.2%

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

1,505,000

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

7,860,000

MORE REASISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.68%