March 08, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment rate unchanged in February

The number of unemployed persons was 8.2 million in February, and the unemployment rate held at 5.6 percent, seasonally adjusted. Both measures are below their recent highs of June 2003.

Unemployment rate, February 2003-February 2004
[Chart data—TXT]

Unemployment rates for the major worker groups—adult men (5.1 percent), adult women (4.9 percent), teenagers (16.6 percent), whites (4.9 percent), blacks (9.8 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (7.4 percent)—showed little or no change over the month.

Over the month, the civilian labor force decreased by 392,000 to 146.5 million, and the labor force participation rate fell to 65.9 percent.

These data are from the Current Population Survey. Numbers in this article are seasonally adjusted. For more information, see The Employment Situation: February 2004 (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-338.