Data for the Classroom from
Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog http://dolanecon.blogspot.com/ U.S. Labor Market Shows Slight Improvement in July Posted August 5, 2011 Terms of Use: These slides are made available 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 Publishers.

Job Growth Recovers Moderately in
July <ul><li>Total payroll jobs grew by 117,000 in July, the 10 th straight month of expansion. </li></ul><ul><li>The job growth numbers for May and June were revised upward, but remained low </li></ul><ul><li>Private nonfarm jobs increased across all sectors, but state and local governments lost 37,000 jobs </li></ul><ul><li>A separate household survey that includes farm jobs and self-employment showed a decrease of 38,000 jobs </li></ul>Posted August 5, 2011 on Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog http://dolanecon.blogspot.com

Unemployment Rate Edges Up <ul><li>The
unemployment rate edged down to 9.1 percent. The rate has changed little since December 2010 </li></ul><ul><li>The number of unemployed persons decreased by 156,000 </li></ul><ul><li>The labor force, which includes both employed and unemployed persons, decreased by 196,000 as discouraged workers stopped looking for jobs </li></ul><ul><li>The unemployment rate is the ratio of unemployed persons to the labor force </li></ul>Posted August 5, 2011 on Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog http://dolanecon.blogspot.com

Broad vs. Standard Unemployment Rate
<ul><li>The government also calculates a broader measure of unemployment called U-6 </li></ul><ul><li>The numerator includes </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Unemployed persons </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Marginally attached persons who would like to work but are not looking for work because they think there are no jobs </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Persons working part time who would prefer full-time work but can’t find it </li></ul></ul><ul><li>The denominator includes the labor force plus the marginally attached </li></ul>Posted August 5, 2011 on Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog http://dolanecon.blogspot.com

Employment-Population Ratio Reaches a New
Low <ul><li>The employment to population ratio dropped to 58.1 percent, an all-time low </li></ul><ul><li>The long decline in the ratio reflects several factors </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Slow job growth </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>More discouraged workers, who do not look for jobs because they think none are available </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>More retired persons as the population ages </li></ul></ul>Posted August 5, 2011 on Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog http://dolanecon.blogspot.com