Economics for your ClassroomfromEd Dolan’s
Econ BlogUS Unemployment Dropsto 7.5 Percent in April, JobGains Revised UpwardMay 3, 2013Terms of Use: These slides are provided under Creative Commons License Attribution—Share Alike 3.0 . You are freeto use these slides as a resource for your economics classes together with whatever textbook you are using. If you likethe slides, you may also want to take a look at my textbook, Introduction to Economics, from BVT Publishing.

Unemployment Rate Falls to 7.5
Percent The US unemployment rate fell to 7.5%in April, the lowest since December 2008.The unemployment rate is the ratio ofunemployed persons to the labor force. The labor force increased by 210,000 forthe month. The number of employedworkers rose by 293,000 and the numberof unemployed fell by 83,000 The unemployment rate is based on asurvey of households that includes self-employed and farm workersMay 3, 2013 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

Broad vs. Standard Unemployment Rate
The BLS also provides a broadermeasure of job-market stress, U-6 The numerator of U-6 includes Unemployed persons Marginally attached persons whowould like to work but are notlooking because they think thereare no jobs, or for personal reasons Part-time workers who would preferfull-time work but can’t find it The denominator includes the laborforce plus the marginally attached U-6 rose to 13.9 percent in MarchMay 3, 2013 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

Involuntary Part-Time Increases The number
of people workingpart time for economic reasonshas been unusually highthroughout the recession andrecovery These people are sometimescalled “involuntary” part-timeworkers to distinguish them frompeople who prefer to work parttime because of family or personalobligations, school or training,retirement, and other reasons Involuntary part-time workers roseto 5.1 percent of the labor force inAprilMay 3, 2013 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

Payroll Jobs Grow at 2-year
Average Rate in April According to a separate survey ofemployers, which excludes self-employed and farm workers, theeconomy added 165,000 payroll jobs inApril, almost exactly the average for thepast two years Almost all of the new jobs were in theprivate service sector. Jobs in goodsproducing sectors fell by 9,000, andgovernment jobs fell by 11,000May 3, 2013 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

Job Growth for February and
March Revised Upward The jobs report also included strong upward revisions for February and March of 2013 Revised March job gains of 232,000 were the best in almost four yearsMay 3, 2013 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

Long-term Unemployment Continues Gradual Decline
The recession and slow recovery havebeen characterized by unusually highlevels of long-term unemployment The percentage of the unemployedout of work for 27 weeks or more fell37.4 percent in March, The lowestsince 2009 The mean duration of unemploymentdecreased to 36.5 weeks and themedian duration to 17.5 weeksMay 3, 2013 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

The employmentsituation at a glanceThis
spider chart summarizesthe employment situation forApril 2013The zero mark in the centerof the chart represents theworst month for each indicatorsince the start of the recessionThe 100 mark represents thebest month for each indicatorimmediately before the onset ofthe recession

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about Ed Dolan’s Econ textsFor more slideshows and commentary, follow Ed Dolan’s Econ BlogLike this slideshow?Follow @DolanEcon on Twitter