Unemployment Rate fell in May to 3.8%.

Posted - Filed under Data News, 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 May to 3.8% from 3.9% in April. The Labor Force Participation rate fell to 62.7% from 62.8%. The Employment/Population Ratio rose to 60.4% from 60.3%. The contribution of these two factors to the Unemployment Rate is shown in the chart below.

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

More detailed Labor Force Participation Charts and Employment Ratio Charts  
U.S. Unemployment Rate. Seasonally Adjusted.
Total Labor Force Mlns Rate (%) Monthly Change (%pts) Year/Year Change (%pts)
May 2017 May 2018 May 2017 Mar. 2018 Apr. 2018 May 2018 Mar. 2018 Apr. 2018 May 2018 Mar. 2018 Apr. 2018 May 2018
All Ages (16+) 159.7 161.5 4.3 4.1 3.9 3.8 0.0 -0.2 -0.1 -0.4 -0.5 -0.5
16 to 19 years 5.8 5.8 14.1 13.5 12.9 12.8 -0.9 -0.6 -0.1 -0.1 -1.8 -1.3
20 to 24 years 15.2 15.1 6.7 6.6 6.7 7.1 -0.2 0.1 0.4 -0.7 -0.6 0.4
25 years and over 138.7 140.6 3.6 3.4 3.3 3.0 0.0 -0.1 -0.3 -0.4 -0.3 -0.6
25 to 34 years 35.9 36.6 4.9 4.2 4.4 3.8 -0.2 0.2 -0.6 -0.3 0.0 -1.1
35 to 44 years 32.9 33.4 3.3 3.2 3.0 2.8 0.1 -0.2 -0.2 -0.7 -0.6 -0.5
45 to 54 years 33.6 33.3 3.2 2.9 2.8 2.7 0.0 -0.1 -0.1 -0.4 -0.6 -0.5
55 years and over 36.3 37.3 3.1 3.2 3.0 2.8 0.0 -0.2 -0.2 -0.1 -0.2 -0.3
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.