August 07, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment rates and demographics, July 2006

The unemployment rate rose to 4.8 percent in July 2006.

Unemployment rates by demographic group, May-July 2006
[Chart data—TXT]

Over the month, the unemployment rates for most major worker groups—adult women (4.2 percent), teenagers (15.5 percent), whites (4.1 percent), blacks (9.5 percent), and Hispanics (5.3 percent) —showed little or no change. 

After declining in June, the jobless rate for adult men increased to 4.2 percent in July.

These data on employment are from the Current Population Survey program and have been seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation: July 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-1304.

Happy 10th Birthday, TED!

The very first issue of The Editor's Desk (TED) was posted on September 28, 1998. TED was the first online-only publication of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For 10 years, BLS has been committed to posting a new TED article each business day, for a total of over 2,400 articles so far.

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