June 06, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment rate in May 2006

Both the number of unemployed persons (7.0 million) and the unemployment rate (4.6 percent) were essentially unchanged in May.

Unemployment rate by demographic group, May 2006
[Chart data—TXT]

In May, the jobless rates for the major worker groups—adult men (4.2 percent), adult women (4.1 percent), teenagers (14.0 percent), whites (4.1 percent), blacks (8.9 percent), and Hispanics (5.0 percent)—showed little or no change over the month.

The data in this report are from the Current Population Survey and are seasonally adjusted. More information can be found in "The Employment Situation: May 2006," news release USDL 06-942.

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.

Find out more about the story of TED