Unemployment rate question

[Jacob Lee]

Population 15 years and over: 31,114.3 thousand
Employment: 16,631.9 thousand
Unemployment: 2,658.4 thousand
Calculate the unemployment rate.

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Unemployment rate = # of people Unemployed/ Labor force x 100

Labor force = 16,631.9 + 2,658.4 = 19290.3

Unemployment rate = 2,658.4/19290.3 x 100 = 13.78%

I was wondering if someone could check to see if I was correct, thanks in advance!

 

[JeffM]

The arithmetic looks fine. I believe that there may be seasonal adjustments and other adjustments made to the official statistics, but your approach looks sensible to me. After all, you are not planning to substitute for BLS.

 

[Steven G]

Please do not multiply by 100 rather multiply by 100%. Note that 100%=100/100 = 1. Multiplying by 100% does NOT change the value but it gives that value as a percent.

You know that 7 does not equal 7*100 so why write it!

On the other hand, 7 does equal 7*1 and right now I feel like writing my 1 has 100%. So 7= 7*100% = 700%