January 08, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment and labor force participation at the end of 2007

In December 2007, the number of unemployed persons was 7.7 million and the unemployment rate was 5.0 percent. A year earlier, the number of unemployed persons was 6.8 million, and the jobless rate was 4.4 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

The labor force participation rate was 66.0 percent in December 2007 and was 0.4 percentage point lower than a year earlier.

The employment-population ratio was 62.7 percent in December 2007; it declined by 0.7 percentage point over the year.

The data in this report are from the Current Population Survey and are seasonally adjusted. For more information, see "The Employment Situation: December 2007" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 08-0013. 

 

Related TED article:

• Payroll employment up by 1.3 million in 2007