Jobless rate fell because millions gave up looking

Unemployment fell two hundredths of a percentage point to 8.1 percent in August – the number of employed rising by 96,000 – because long-term unemployed, marginally employed, or under-employed persons gave up looking for work, according to the latest Labor Department figures.

“In August, 2.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

“Among the marginally attached, there were 844,000 discouraged workers in August, a decline of 133,000 from a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.7 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in August had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities,” according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released this week.

Unemployment in the Eurozone rose to a record 11.4 percent during the same period, according to published reports. 

The report for September is due on Friday, Oct. 5 at 8:30 a.m.

(clickhere for the August report)