October 07, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment rate 5.6 percent in September

The number of unemployed persons (8.1 million) and the unemployment rate (5.6 percent) were essentially unchanged in September.

[Chart data—TXT]

The jobless rates for the major worker groups—adult men (5.2 percent), adult women (4.9 percent), teenagers (15.7 percent), whites (5.1 percent), blacks (9.6 percent), and Hispanics (7.4 percent)—showed no statistically significant change in September.

About 1.5 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in September, compared with 1.3 million a year earlier. These individuals reported that they wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed, however, because they had not actively searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. 

The data in this report are products of the Current Population Survey. For more information, see The Employment Situation: September 2002, (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 02-570.