The announced unemployment rate for July was 9.1%, down from 9.2% in June. Total non-farm payrolls increased by 117,000.  To put this figure in perspective, an increase of  approximately 175,000 jobs is necessary each month to keep up with population growth.

The average time that an individual is unemployed increased in July to a record 40.4 weeks.

As of July 2011, 6,185,000 individuals have been unemployed for 27 or more weeks.

Only 63.9% of the labor population* in the United States is currently either employed or unemployed and actively seeking work. The last time this ratio was this low was January 1984. This indicates that a growing number of people are no longer actively seeking employment (required to be counted as unemployed).

Civilian Labor Participation = (All Employed People + All Unemployed People) / Labor Force Population*

*Labor Force Population is defined as all men and women age 16 and older.