According to the U.S Department of Labor, the unemployment rate in January of 2012 in the United States was 8.3%. According to the same department, the unemployment rate in January of 2016 was 4.9% . According to the U.S department of Labor, how did the unemployment rate change from January 2012 to January 2016?

Options

A. It decreased by 79%
B. If decreased by 41%
C. It decreased by 34%
D. It increased by 41%

Answer

To determine how the unemployment rate changed from January 2012 to January 2016, we can follow these steps:

### Step 1: Identify the unemployment rates
- Unemployment rate in January 2012: **8.3%**
- Unemployment rate in January 2016: **4.9%**

### Step 2: Calculate the change in unemployment rate
- Change in unemployment rate = Unemployment rate in 2016 - Unemployment rate in 2012
- Change = 4.9% - 8.3% = **-3.4%**

### Step 3: Calculate the percentage change
- The formula for percentage change is:
\[ \text{Percentage Change} = \left( \frac{\text{Change}}{\text{Old Value}} \right) \times 100 \]
- Here, the old value is the unemployment rate in January 2012 (8.3%).
- Plugging in the values:
\[ \text{Percentage Change} = \left( \frac{-3.4}{8.3} \right) \times 100 \]

### Step 4: Simplify the calculation
- Calculate the fraction:
\[ \frac{-3.4}{8.3} \approx -0.4096 \]
- Now multiply by 100:
\[ -0.4096 \times 100 \approx -40.96\% \]

### Step 5: Interpret the result
- Since the result is negative, it indicates a decrease in the unemployment rate. Thus, we can say that the unemployment rate decreased by approximately **41%**.

### Conclusion
- The unemployment rate decreased by **41%** from January 2012 to January 2016.

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