Confusing unemployment report explained in 2 graphics

02.09.2014

The job report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics always seems to be sending mixed signals. Take the January report. Unemployment rate down a smidge. U.S. economy added 113,000 jobs. Blah. Blah.

But the Labor figures don’t include people who have given up looking for work, so we’re usually left wondering how many people are really unemployed.

Ritchie S. King, a visual reporter at Quartz, has taken a good look at the January jobs report and explains the employment status of Americans of working age …

King also made a chart that explains which industries are hiring and firing:

source