January 10, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

December unemployment rates of Hurricane Katrina evacuees

The unemployment rate for persons identified as Hurricane Katrina evacuees was 12.4 percent in December 2005.

[Chart data—TXT]

The unemployment rate for persons identified as Hurricane Katrina evacuees was much higher for evacuees who had not returned home (20.7 percent) than for those who had returned (5.6 percent).

Information gathered in December showed that about 1.1 million persons age 16 and over had evacuated from where they were living in August due to Hurricane Katrina. These evacuees either had returned to their homes or were living in other residential units covered in the survey in December. About 600,000 of the evacuees had returned to their August 2005 residences.

These estimates are calculated from data collected from Current Population Survey-sampled households. These data do not account for all evacuees; persons living outside of the scope of the survey—such as those living in hotels or shelters—are not included. Hurricane evacuee data were collected in the household survey sample throughout the country, as some evacuees relocated far from the storm-affected areas. 

These data are from the Current Population Survey and are not seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see The Employment Situation: December 2005 (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-07.