September 05, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment in August 2006

The number of unemployed persons (7.1 million) and the unemployment rate (4.7 percent) were essentially unchanged in August.

[Chart data—TXT]

A year earlier, the number of unemployed persons was 7.4 million, and the jobless rate was 4.9 percent.

Over the month, the unemployment rates for most major worker groups—adult men (4.1 percent), adult women (4.1 percent), teenagers (16.2 percent), whites (4.1 percent), and Hispanics (5.3 percent)—showed little or no change. The jobless rate for blacks declined to 8.8 percent in August.

About 1.6 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in August, the same as a year earlier. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

These data are from the Current Population Survey, and are seasonally adjusted unless otherwise specified. For more information, see "The Employment Situation: August 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-1542.