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Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog US Unemployment Falls to 7.3 Percent, a New Low for the Recovery September 8, 2013 Terms of Use: These slides are provided under Creative Commons License Attribution—Share Alike 3.0 . You are free to use these slides as a resource for your economics classes together with whatever textbook you are using. If you like the slides, you may also want to take a look at my textbook, Introduction to Economics, from BVT Publishing.

169,000 New Payroll Jobs in
August  Payroll jobs grew by 169,000 in August, slightly below average for recent months  June and July data were revised downward.  Manufacturing gained 14,000 jobs, reversing recent losses. However, most new jobs were in services.  The government sector gained 17,000 new jobs, almost entirely due to an increase in local government education September 8, 2013 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

Unemployment Rate Falls to New
Low  The US unemployment rate fell to 7.3% in August, a new low for the recovery.  The unemployment rate is the ratio of unemployed persons to the labor force. The labor force decreased by 312,000 for the month. The number of employed workers fell by 115,000 and the number of unemployed decreased by 198,000  The unemployment rate is based on a survey of households that is separate from the payroll jobs survey. Unlike the payroll survey, it includes self-employed and farm workers September 8, 2013 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

Broad vs. Standard Unemployment Rate
 The BLS also provides a broader measure of job-market stress, U-6  The numerator of U-6 includes  Unemployed persons  Marginally attached persons who would like to work but are not looking because they think there are no jobs, or for personal reasons  Part-time workers who would prefer full-time work but can’t find it  The denominator includes the labor force plus the marginally attached  U-6 fell to 13.7 percent in August, also a new low for the recovery September 8, 2013 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

Long-term Unemployment Rises Slightly 
The recession and slow recovery have been characterized by unusually high levels of long-term unemployment  The percentage of the unemployed out of work for 27 weeks or rose slightly to 37.9 percent in August, a break with the generally downward trend  Both the median and mean duration of unemployment increased September 8, 2013 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

Involuntary Part-time Work Decreases 
So-called “involuntary part-time” employment decreased in August, but it has not yet returned to the low reached in March of this year  This category includes workers who would like full-time work but can’t find it, or whose employers have cut their hours below full time  It excludes people who work part time by preference September 8, 2013 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

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