Re: Question: unemployment rate

[Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

Marta Russell wrote:

> Someone on this list probably has this figure in their head.
>
> When the U.S. unemployment rate went up from 3.9% in April 2000 to
> 4.5% in April 2001 about how many people lost their jobs?
>
> Was it 500,000 or more than than that?

About 300,000 more.

UNEMPLOYMENT, TOTAL

           seasonally   not seasonally
            adjusted       adjusted
4/00        5,597,000      5,188,000
4/01        6,402,000      5,951,000
change        805,000        763,000

Seasonally adjusted, it's 805,000; before adjustment, it's 763,000.
Seasonal adjustment is a better guide to underlying trends, but the
unadjusted number is a better estimate of the literal number of
disemployed persons.

Doug