November 21, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Employed women about as likely as men to be looking

By February 1999, the gap in job-search rates between men and women had nearly dissolved; the rate for men was 4.6 percent and the rate for women was 4.4 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

The job-search rate among men had been 6.0 percent in February 1995, compared with 5.3 percent for women.

The job-search rate for all employed wage and salary workers declined from 5.6 percent in February 1995 to 4.5 percent in February 1999.

The data on active job search by employed wage and salary workers are from supplements to the Current Population Survey. Active job-search methods include, among others, contacting an employer directly, registering at a public or private employment agency, sending out resumes, filling out applications, and placing or answering ads. Learn more about job hunting by employed workers in "Looking for a ‘better’ job: job search activity of the employed," by Joseph R. Meisenheimer II and Randy E. Ilg, Monthly Labor Review, September 2000.