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Actually, the unemployment rate fell to 5.0078%

Jan 8, 2016, 19:03 IST

U.S. President Barack Obama looks through a microscope as he tours Bio Tech Facilities at Forsyth Technical Community College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, December 6, 2010.Jim Young/Reuters

December's official unemployment rate was 5.0%.

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Notably, economists consider a 5% rate to indicate full employment.

But while that number is accurate, it's imprecise.

Because of rounding.

The civilian labor force, which is made up of employed people and those looking for jobs, totaled 157.833 million in December. 7.904 million of those were unemployed.

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So based on those numbers, the unemployment rate is actually closer to 5.0078%.

Back in November, there were 7.937 million unemployed Americans in a labor force of 157.301 million, which would make the unemployment rate about 5.04574%. (Although, again, the officially reported number was 5.0%.)

So that technically makes December's number a 0.0379 percentage point decrease from the previous month.

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