Labor Department

Labor Secretary Tom Perez explains how he hopes to push unemployment down and economic growth up.

There may be more jobs out there, but many people are looking for full-time work, when all there is, is part-time.

Part-time workers dampen the otherwise good numbers in the Labor Department's monthly jobs snapshot.

Job openings jumped to a four-year high in June: 3.7 million. Seems strange, considering we learned less than a week ago that the country has an 8.3 percent unemployment rate right now.

The July jobs report from the Labor Department is out. Last month, unemployment rose from 8.2 to 8.3 percent, while 163,000 jobs were added -- the most in five months.

So as this unemployment report continues to show stagnant growth, many politicians, experts, armchair economists are chiming in on the best way to solve the unemployment problem in the U.S. One idea being floated is inspired by Germany: working fewer hours.

Many economists are expecting fewer than 100,000 new jobs created, and unemployment to hold at 8.2% for the month of June.

The government released its closely-watched employment report for April. While the unemployment rate ticked down to 8.1 percent, only 115,000 new jobs were added to payrolls for the month, well below forecasts.

January unemployment was down from 8.5 to 8.3 percent. That's good news, but there's still work ahead, says economist Randall Wray.

Hilda Solis, the Secretary of the Labor Department, discusses the jobs picture today, and where we still need to improve.