August 04, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment in July 2008

Both the number of unemployed persons (8.8 million) and the unemployment rate (5.7 percent) rose in July. Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 1.6 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 1.0 percentage point.

[Chart data—TXT]

Over the month, the unemployment rates for adult men and whites edged up while the rates for adult women, blacks, and Hispanics were little changed. The jobless rate for teenagers increased from 18.1 percent in June to 20.3 percent in July.

Among the unemployed, the number of reentrants to the labor force in July rose by 207,000 to 2.7 million. The number has increased by 623,000 over the past 12 months. The number of unemployed persons who had lost their last job was about unchanged over the month at 4.4 million, but has risen by 778,000 over the year.

These data are from the Current Population Survey program and are seasonally adjusted. More information can be found in "The Employment Situation: July 2008," (HTML) (PDF) news release USDL 08-1049.