The United States’ Department of Labor’s unemployment rate for Dec. 2012, the first figure released in the New Year, remained unchanged by remaining at 7.8 percent according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s report on Friday morning.
There were reportedly 12.2 million without jobs in December which is basically unchanged from the month before. Overall, the nation’s unemployment rate has been basically about the same since Sept. of 2012, for the past for months.
Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 155,000 last month and there were more jobs in health care, food services and drinking establishments, construction, and manufacturing.
Of the major work groups by gender and nationality, the unemployment rate for adult women in Dec. was 7.3 percent, adult men was 7.2 percent, whites was 6.9 percent, Hispanics 9.6 was percent, blacks was 14 percent, Asians 6.9 percent, and teenagers was 23.5 percent.
The number of long-term unemployed who have been without a job for 27 weeks or more was 4.8 million which equates to 39.1 percent of the jobless persons. The involuntary part-time workers who would rather be employed at a full-time job but can’t find one was 7.9 million workers which is unchanged from last month’s figure.
The controversial figure of persons marginally attached to the labor force was 2.6 million – people who were not working but were wanting or available for work and had looked in the past 12 months. However, they were not counted in the unemployment figure because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding this report.
Comments