The economy added 117,000 jobs in July, sending the nation’s unemployment rate down to 9.1 percent for the month, according today’s monthly employment report from the Labor Department. That’s pretty good news considering analysts had expected a gain of only 90,000 new jobs.
But if you look at the labor force as a whole there are a few other stories to tell. The above infographic represents the total U.S. population that’s eligible to work, not counting the military, the incarcerated, or those under the age of 16 (also known as the Civilian noninstitutional population). There are 239.67 million Americans that fit this profile.
The colors break it down by those who are employed full or part-time (shades of green); those who are unemployed (red); and those who are not counted in the labor force either because they don’t want to work, they stopped looking for work, or they’re still looking but discouraged.
This data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly employment report. You can download the PDF to explore the numbers for yourself. We started with Summary Table A. Household data, seasonally adjusted.
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