Jobless Rates Drop to Lowest in Over 3 years

UPDATED February 3, 2012  The economy created a moderate number of jobs in January. both the U3 and U6 unemployment rates dropped to the lowest they have been since early 2009. Still, if the pace of job growth is maintained, unemployment rates won't return to pre-recession levels until after 2016!

The number of unemployed decreased  in December the government reported today. The  U-3  unemployment dropped to 8.3% in January. The  U-6  unemployment rate  dropped to 15.1%. The US economy added 243,000 jobs last month. Total U-3 Unemployment moved down to 12.8 million persons.

Click here for a larger graph of unemployment rates.

Long term unemployment, defined to be 27 weeks or more out of work  was little changed at  5.5 million, or 42.9% of unemployed^(U3) people. The median number of weeks of unemployment was steady at 21.1 weeks.

About 2.8 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in January, little different from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. 

Among the marginally attached, there were 1.1 million discouraged workers in January, little different from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) declined by 371,000 to 8.1 million in December. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. 

News and Comment - No Job News