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

Unemployment rate unchanged in June 2008

The unemployment rate was 5.5 percent in June 2008, the same as in the previous month. In June 2007, the jobless rate was 4.6 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

The number of unemployed persons was essentially unchanged in June 2008 compared with May 2008, at 8.5 million.

The unemployment rate for Hispanics increased from May to June, while the rate for adult men continued to trend up. Jobless rates for adult women, teenagers, whites, and blacks showed little or no change in June.

Among the unemployed, the number of persons who had lost their last job was essentially unchanged at 4.4 million in June, but has risen by 952,000 over the past 12 months. The numbers of unemployed reentrants and new entrants to the labor force were little changed in June; both groups had increased sharply in May.

These data are from the Current Population Survey program and are seasonally adjusted. More information can be found in "The Employment Situation: June 2008," (HTML) (PDF) news release USDL 08-0928.