APRIL 2015 UNEMPLOYMENT DATA*
(U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS)
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT: 5.4%*
A year earlier, the number of unemployed persons was 9.7 million, and the jobless rate was 6.2 percent. [BLS]
White | 4.7% |
African American | 9.6% |
Hispanic | 6.9% |
Asian** | 4.4% |
Persons with a disability** | 10.0% |
Men 20 years and over | 5.0% |
Women 20 years and over | 4.9% |
Teens (16-19 years) | 17.1% |
Black teens | 27.5% |
Officially unemployed | 8.5 million |
from the U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
*If the LFPR were at its pre-recession level, the unemployment rate in April 2015 would have been 7.3% instead of 5.4%. [See “The Labor Force Participation Rate and Its Trajectory“]
HIDDEN UNEMPLOYMENT
Working part-time because can’t find a full-time job: | 6.6 million |
People who want jobs but are not looking so are not counted in official statistics (of which about 2.1 million** searched for work during the prior 12 months and were available for work during the reference week.) | 6.3 million |
Total: 21.4 million (13.1% of the labor force) |
Source: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf See also Current Employment Statistics–Highlights
**Not seasonally adjusted.
*See Uncommon Sense #4 for an explanation of the unemployment measures, and Is the Decline in the Labor Force Participation Rate During This Recession Permanent?.
In addition, millions more were working full-time, year-round, yet earned less than the official poverty level for a family of four. In 2013, the latest year available, that number was 18.5 million, 17.5 percent of full-time, full-year workers (estimated from Current Population Survey, Bur. of the Census, 9/2014).
Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary
Unemployment Rate Vastly Understates Labor Market Weakness
Chartbook: The Legacy of the Great Recession Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
See Trends in long-term unemployment, Bureau of Labor Statistics slides