"550,000 people came back into the labor market [in August]...and so that's why we have that tick [slight increase in overall unemployment rate]. And that's a good outcome," said Economics Professor Thomas Danny Boston to Tony Harris on CNN Newsroom. Boston continued, "when you drop out of the labor force, if you have not looked for a job within four weeks, you're not counted in the unemployment numbers. So when people come back into the labor market, even though they're searching for a job, now they're counted. And that often tends to push that unemployment rate up a bit. And so although it seems bad on the surface, underneath it's good, because people are more optimistic about their prospects."