The unemployment rate was 5.5% in March, unchanged from 5.5% in February.
That's accurate. But it's imprecise.
The issue is rounding.
In March, 8.575 million Americans were unemployed. The civilian labor force, which includes the employed and everyone looking for jobs, stood at 156.906 million. Based on those number, the unemployment rate was 5.465%.
In February, there were 8.705 million unemployed and 157.002 million in the labor force, which meant the unemployment rate was closer to 5.545%.
That's a 0.8% point drop in the unemployment rate. That's definitely more of a drop than it isn't.
