Unemployment Rate Difference: 1969 to 1971

Actually the real reason why the number of jobs available in 1971 grew by 1.6 million yet the unemployment nearly doubled was because more people were looking for jobs than were available. The baby boom children just had been born between 1946 and 1965, so many of them were just graduating from college. Therefore, many students were looking for jobs and trying to be incorporated in the successful work-force, which in this time had more technology and provided more opportunities for jobs. Yet, the baby boom population was already so massive, and with the natural unemployment rate, there were just enough openings for every college student and already working or 'looking-for-work' non-college people. Because the new students were looking for jobs too, they added to the total number of people looking for a job. Because the same amount of people still had jobs yet many more people were unemployed, the 3.4 unemployment rate doubled to 5.9 unemployment rate.