February: 223,000 More Unemployed Individuals

(CNSNews.com) -- The number of unemployed individuals 16 years and over increased by 223,000 in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

In February, there were 10,459,000 unemployed individuals age 16 and over, which was up 223,000 from  January, when there were 10,236,000 unemployed individuals.

In addition, according to the BLS, there were 91,361,000 Americans, 16 or older, who did not participate in the nation’s labor force in February, meaning they neither held a job nor actively sought one.

That brought the national labor force participation rate to 63%, which matched January's participation rate.

In February, according to BLS, the nation’s civilian non-institutional population -- all people 16 or older who were not in the military or an institution -- hit 247,085,000. Among those people, 155,724,000 participated in the labor force by either holding a job or actively seeking one.

The 155,724,000 who participated in the labor force in February equaled only 63% of the 247,085,000 civilian non-institutional population.

For the same 155,724,000 who participated in the labor force, 145,266,000 had a job and 10,459,000 did not have a job but were actively seeking one, making them the nation’s unemployed.

The 10,459,000 job seekers were 6.7 percent of the 155,724,000 actively participating in the labor force during the month. Thus, the unemployment rate was 6.7 percent.

In February, the 145,266,000 people actually employed in the United States was 890,000 less than the 146,156,000 employed  six years ago in February 2008.