The unemployment rate held steady at 5.1% as the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest jobs reports, but the figure tells only part of the story. Despite the unemployment rate staying at the same rate in September as was in August, the reality is that more people are out of work and many have simply stopped looking, CNS News reports:

A record 94,610,000 Americans were not in the American labor force last month -- an increase of 579,000 from August -- and the labor force participation rate reached its lowest point in 38 years, with 62.4 percent of the U.S. population either holding a job or actively seeking one.

The participation rate measures how many people are working or looking for work in any given month and is seen as a sign of health, or lack thereof, in the job market. The last time the labor participation rate was this low was in October 1977, a time when many women were not in the work force.

Meanwhile the Washington Examiner's review of the labor stats claims that native-born Americans continued to lose jobs in September while immigrant employment grew.