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United States Unemployment Rate 1948-2014 Data Chart Calendar
How has the US unemployment rate fall so hard? Any special action? Or has people become more industrious?
Valerie Wilson, EPI director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy, found high rates of unemployment among minorities in many states, including 20.3 percent for Hispanics in Rhode Island and 16.8 percent for African Americans living in Nevada. (The national unemployment rate for blacks, ages 16 and over, was 11 percent in September --10.9 percent in October; for Hispanics or Latino, 6.9 percent in September -- 6.8 percent in October.) “People are experiencing the recovery much differently based on their race and their location, and for far too many people, particularly people of color, the recovery has yet to occur,” Wilson said in a press release announcing the Oct. 27 release of the report. “Until the recovery reaches these families, policymakers should use every available tool to put more people back to work.”
Through the third quarter, the end of September 2014, the unemployment rate was lowest for Hispanics in the District of Columbia at 3.0 percent and the lowest for African Americans in Virginia at 8.2 percent, according to EPI. The white unemployment rate was the lowest in North Dakota at 1.9 percent and highest in Nevada at 7.2 percent. (The national unemployment rate at the end of September was 5.9 percent.) The unemployment rate among Asians was highest in California (5.9 percent) and lowest in Washington state (2.5 percent). Across the country in September, state unemployment rates ranged from a high of 7.9 percent in Georgia to a low of 2.8 percent in North Dakota. Nationally, African Americans had the highest unemployment rate, at 11.0 percent in September, followed by Latinos (6.9 percent), whites (5.1 percent), and Asians (4.3 percent, not seasonally adjusted).
The national unemployment rate fell another tenth of one percent in October to 5.8 percent, the federal government announced on Friday. The EPI explains the methodology used for the report as follows: “The unemployment rate estimates in this issue brief are based on the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) and the Current Population Survey (CPS) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “The overall state unemployment rate is taken directly from the LAUS,” says the EPI. “CPS six-month ratios are applied to LAUS data to calculate the rates by race and ethnicity. For each state subgroup, we calculate the unemployment rate using the past six months of CPS data.” “We then find the ratio of this subgroup rate to the state unemployment rate using the same period of CPS data. This gives us an estimate of how the subgroup compares to the state overall,” said the EPI.
“While this methodology allows us to calculate unemployment-rate estimates at the state level by race by quarter, it is less precise at the national level than simply using the CPS. Thus, the national-level estimates may differ from direct CPS estimates,” said the Economic Policy Institute. In many states, the sample size of these subgroups is not large enough to create an accurate estimate of their unemployment rate. “We only report data for groups which had, on average, a sample size of at least 700 in the labor force for each six-month period,” said the Economic Policy Institute.
Report Highest Unemployment for Hispanics is in RI at 20.3 Blacks in Nevada at 16.8 CNS News
The number of African Americans who were employed in the United States in October dropped by 41,000; and the number of African-Americans not participating in the labor force increased by 114,000. However, the employment picture for all Americans aged 16 and older improved from September to October, as the overall unemployment rate declined from 5.9 percent to 5.8 percent, the number of employed increased from 146,600,000 to 147,283,000, and the number of unemployed decreased from 9,262,000 to 8,995,000.
The participation rate, which is the percentage of the civilian noninstitutional population who participated in the labor force by either having a job or actively seeking one, also increased from 62.7 percent to 62.8 percent for all Americans. Those not in the labor force, which are those who not only did not have a job, but they did not actively seek one in the last four weeks, declined from 92,584,000 to 92,378,000. But for African Americans 16 years and older, some of those metrics worsened in October. The number of employed African Americans 16 years and older decreased by 41,000 to 16,940,000 in October from 16,981,000 in September.
The participation rate dipped to 61.4 percent in October from 61.7 percent in September. African Americans who did not have a job and did not actively seek one in the past four weeks increased by 114,000 to 11,964,000 in October from 11,850,000 in September. The only two metrics that improved for African Americans were the unemployment rate, which decreased from 11.0 percent to 10.9 percent; and the number of the unemployed, which decreased from 2,100,000 to 2,065,000. BLS employment statistics are based on the civilian noninstitutional population, which consists of all people 16 or older who were not in the military or an institution such as a prison, mental hospital or nursing home.
In October, the civilian noninstitutional population for African Americans was 30,969,000 according to BLS. Of that 30,969,000, 19,005,000 -- or 61.4 percent -- participated in the labor force, meaning they either had or job or had actively sought one in the last four weeks. Of the 19,005,000 who did participate in the labor force, 16,940,000 had a job and 2,065,000 did not have a job but actively sought one. The 2,065,000 are the unemployed. They equaled 10.9 percent of the labor force—or an unemployment rate of 10.9 percent. This unemployment rate is 87.9 percent higher than the unemployment rate of all Americans of 5.8 percent.
Employment Situation Improves in October--Except for African Americans CNS News
Actually the unemployment rate isn't lowUnited States Unemployment Rate 1948-2014 Data Chart Calendar
How has the US unemployment rate fall so hard? Any special action? Or has people become more industrious?
US unemployment rate is low because Republicans encourage more capitalism and less welfare.
Do you understand!
The number of Americans not in the labor force has continued to rise, partly because of retiring baby-boomers and fewer workers entering the workforce. In August, according to BLS, the nation’s civilian noninstitutional population, consisting of all people 16 or older who were not in the military or an institution, reached 251,096,000. Of those, 157,065,000 participated in the labor force by either holding a job or actively seeking one.
The 157,065,000 who participated in the labor force equaled only 62.6 percent of the 251,096,000 civilian noninstitutional population -- the same as it was in July and June. Not since October 1977, when the participation rate dropped to 62.4, has the percentage been this low.
The labor force participation rate stayed stuck at 62.6 percent, a 38-year low, for a third straight month in August, the Labor Department reported on Friday.
Historical perspective
In January 1948 -- the first year the data was recorded -- 88.7 percent of men, aged 20 and older, were participating in the U.S. labor force. The rate first dipped below 80 percent in November 1975 (79.9%), spiraling steadily downward through August 2015, when 71.5 percent of men 20 and older were participating in the labor force. It's the opposite story for women 20 and older: In 1948, a time when one-earner incomes were generally sufficient to support the family, only 31 percent of women participated in the workforce. In May 1966, the rate climbed above 40 percent for the first time; it broke 50 percent in October 1978; and 60 percent in July 1996.
When Barack Obama took office in January 2009, 60.9 percent of women were particiating in the labor force, but after rising somewhat in that economically turbulent year, the particpation rate for women started heading down. Last month, it stood at 58.2 percent.
Other notes from Friday's jobs report:
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the annual growth rate for 2014 was 2.4 percent. The last time the U.S. experienced a growth rate above 4 percent was in back in 2000. But the four economists agreed that the nation could achieve that level of economic growth again by changing its current economic policies. "Four percent growth should be the goal,” said Stephen Moore, a senior economic contributor at FreedomWorks and co-founder of the newly formed Committee to Unleash Prosperity. "And by the way, I think we can get 5 percent growth because this growth gap, what it's telling you is that there's pent-up growth. The economy is ready to explode if we have a change in policies."
One policy change that Moore proposed was to lift the oil export ban. The ban was originally imposed by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 as a response to the 1973 oil crisis. “If we lifted [the export cap] ... we could increase oil and gas production by about $150 billion per year,” said Moore. David Malpass, president of Encima Global and the former Republican staff director for the congressional Joint Economic Committee, suggested that the Federal Reserve raise interest rates as a way to encourage more interbank lending. “Think about it from the lenders' side. If you're a lender, why would you want to lend into a zero percent interest rate environment?” asked Malpass.
Another economist argued that tax reform could boost GDP by at least one percent a year. “A tax reform plan with the right kind of elements could boost the level of GDP and the rate of GDP growth by an additional one percent a year,” said Scott Hodge, president of the Tax Foundation. Hodge outlined the elements that he considers would be needed in tax reform package, including full expensing for business investments, lower tax rates for all businesses, lower tax rates on labor, repealing the death tax, and repealing Obamacare taxes on investment income.
Economists: US Could Return to 4% Growth With Major Policy Reforms
