Saturday, May 06, 2017

The Unemployment Rate

The April Jobs numbers look pretty good.  The US added 211,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.4%.

That's good news for Trump, as measured against Obama, but honestly, anyone can look good against Obama.  There are several measures of unemployment, and the "official" measure is the U-3/  I've always believed that two other numbers should be used.  One, the U-6, is currently at 8.6

Another, the labor force participation rate, is currently at 62.9%.

1 comment:

Jonathan H said...

Thankfully both the U-6 is lower and the participation rate higher than a few years ago - but I am still skeptical of both since the inputs and calculations are changed often. I see the possibilities of a better economic future, but I'll wait to see some results before declaring victory.