The Unemployment Rate Remained Steady At 4.3% For May

The Labor Department released its unemployment report for May on Friday. It showed the economy produced about 172,000 new jobs in May. While not great, that was better than the last several months. And it was good enough to keep the unemployment rate steady at 4.3 (for the third month in a row).

Here are the relevant statistics for May.

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:

170,078,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:

7,307,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

4.3%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:

Adult men...............4.0%

Adult women...............3.8%

Teens (16-19)...............14.7%

Whites...............3.8%

Blacks...............6.6%

Asians...............3.8%

Hispanics...............5.0%

No HS diploma...............6.0%

HS graduate...............4.4%

Some college...............3.6%

Bachelor's deg. or more...............2.7%

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

1,723,000

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

9,030,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

5.3%