Posted - Filed under Household Survey.

For more charts and tables at finer levels of detail, please visit our Unemployment Dataset Page.

U3 unemployment rate

Click to enlarge

The BLS U.3 unemployment rate fell in October to 5.8% from 5.9% in September.

The Labor Force Participation rate rose to 62.8% from 62.7%.

The Employment/Population Ratio rose to 59.2% from 59%.

The contribution of these two factors to the Unemployment Rate is shown in the chart below.

This is a good result, with the Labor Force rising yet Employment rising faster.

U3 Contributions

Click to enlarge


The relationship between the three measures is as follows:

UR = (LR – ER) / LR

Where LR is the Labor Force Participation Rate, and ER is the Employment Ratio.

Note how a decrease in the participation rate on its own, reduces the unemployment rate: The number of available workers drops, and thus there are relatively fewer unemployed – even in the absence of job growth. This is what has happened in the recovery since the “Great Recession”.

Labor Force Participation Rate

Click to enlarge

Employment Population Ratio

Click to enlarge



U.S. Unemployment Rate. Seasonally Adjusted.
Total Labor Force Mlns Rate (%) Monthly Change (%pts) Year/Year Change (%pts)
Oct.
2013
Oct.
2014
Oct.
2013
Aug.
2014
Sep.
2014
Oct.
2014
Aug.
2014
Sep.
2014
Oct.
2014
Aug.
2014
Sep.
2014
Oct.
2014
All Ages (16+) 154.6 156.3 7.2 6.1 5.9 5.8 -0.1 -0.2 -0.1 -1.1 -1.3 -1.4
16 to 19 years 5.7 5.9 22.0 19.6 20.0 18.6 -0.6 0.4 -1.4 -3.0 -1.3 -3.4
20 to 24 years 15.6 15.7 12.2 10.6 11.4 10.5 -0.7 0.8 -0.9 -2.2 -1.4 -1.7
25 years and over 133.6 134.8 6.0 5.1 4.7 4.7 0.1 -0.4 0.0 -0.9 -1.2 -1.3
25 to 34 years 33.6 34.3 7.2 6.9 6.2 6.2 0.3 -0.7 0.0 -0.9 -1.1 -1.0
35 to 44 years 32.4 32.4 5.7 4.8 4.3 4.4 0.0 -0.5 0.1 -0.8 -1.3 -1.3
45 to 54 years 34.2 33.9 5.9 4.3 4.1 4.0 0.1 -0.2 -0.1 -1.2 -1.4 -1.9
55 years and over 33.3 34.1 5.4 4.6 3.9 4.1 0.1 -0.7 0.2 -0.5 -1.4 -1.3

This article was generated automatically from our database. We can automate custom reports, spreadsheets and data feeds for our clients. Please contact us with your requirements.