Unemployment Dips to Lowest Level Since 2009, But Why?

• December 2nd 2011

by UrbanTurf Staff

The economic news that has the business world abuzz today is that the unemployment rate in the country dropped to 8.6 percent in November, the lowest level since March 2009.

The unexpected drop, coupled with a report that the U-6 jobs measure — a tool that gauges the number of people working part time and those marginally attached to the labor force — fell to 15.6 percent in November, is cautiously being considered good news.

However, an article in The Wall Street Journal does a good job of explaining exactly what these numbers mean:

In October, the household survey showed the number of people unemployed fell by 594,000, but the labor force — the number of people working or looking for work — fell by a little more than half that amount. That means that though the number of employed people rose, a large group just stopped looking for work. That could be due to discouragement of the long-term unemployed or by choice over retirement or child care. So the decline in the unemployment rate to 8.6% was about half due to people finding jobs and half people dropping out.

In late November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the unemployment rate in DC proper dipped slightly, to 11 percent in October from 11.2 percent in September.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/unemployment_dips_to_lowest_level_since_2009/4691.