The Unemployment Rate Falls Slightly To 3.8% For March

The Labor Department released its unemployment report for the month of March on Friday. It showed the economy produce 303,000 new jobs. That was good enough to drop the unemployment rate to 3.8% (about 0.1% lower than the February rate). March was the 23rd month in a row that the unemployment rate was below 4.0%.

Here are the relevant statistics for the month of March:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

167,895,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

6,429,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

3.8%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:

Adult men...............3.3%

Adult women...............3.6%

Teens (16-19)...............12.6%

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

Blacks...............6.4%

Asians...............2.5%

Hispanics...............4.5%

Less than HS diploma...............4.9%

HS graduate...............4/1%

Some college...............3.4%

Bachelor's deg or more...............2.1%

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

1,595,000

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

8,024,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.78%