The unemployment rate in the United States of America has fallen considerably. Due to the opening of nearly 248,000 new job spots, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.9% by the end of September, the best since 2008. In addition, the U6 unemployment rate, which takes into account “marginally attached workers” and workers seeking part-time jobs for economic reasons, has also significantly decreased. It’s the first time since October 2008 that the U6 unemployment rate reaches anything below 12%. Because of that, the number of people looking for jobs has fallen to 62.8%, the lowest since 1978. However, there is much more to these numbers. Part of the reason why the unemployment rate decreased is the fact that many workers actually left the labor force, and are thus unaccounted for. On top of that, the Federal Reserve Bank has mentioned that it is worried about the relatively low inflation rate, which means that the economic market is still idle and inactive.

As an international student, I applied to several universities in the United States. One of the reasons that persuaded me to move away from the U.S. was the on-going economic recession that limits the amount of jobs being offered. The weak economy in the U.S. has been going on for a while, and it is evident that even though the elderly retire and thus create more job openings, the population is unmotivated to look for work. Although the minimum wage has increased by 2% in comparison to September 2013, it is rather insufficient to encourage workers to seek for jobs.

References:

http://g1.globo.com/economia/noticia/2014/10/desemprego-nos-eua-cai-59-menor-taxa-desde-2008.html

http://portalseven.com/employment/unemployment_rate_u6.jsp

http://mahoneygps.com/unemployment-rate-affect-market/