April 09, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment rates in March

The number of unemployed persons (8.1 million) and the unemployment rate (5.7 percent) were little changed in March.

Unemployment rates, March 2002 (seasonally adjusted)
[Chart data—TXT]

The unemployment rate for blacks increased to 10.7 percent in March. Jobless rates for the other major worker groups—adult men (5.2 percent), adult women (5.0 percent), teenagers (16.4 percent), whites (5.0 percent), and Hispanics (7.3 percent)—showed little or no change.

These data are a product of the Current Population Survey. Data in this article are seasonally adjusted. Find out more in "The Employment Situation: March 2002," news release USDL 02-195.

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.

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