September 06, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment rate in August 2005

Both the number of unemployed persons and the unemployment rate were little changed in August.

Unemployment rate, August 2004-August 2005
[Chart data—TXT]

The unemployment rate, at 4.9 percent, has trended down by half a percentage point since February. The number of unemployed persons, 7.4 million, was down from 8.0 million in February.

In August, the unemployment rates for most major worker groups—adult men (4.3 percent), teenagers (16.5 percent), whites (4.2 percent), blacks (9.6 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (5.8 percent)—showed little or no change. The jobless rate for adult women fell to 4.4 percent over the month.

Since February, the number of persons unemployed due to job loss has declined by 490,000, to 3.5 million in August. The decline in this group has accounted for most of the decrease in total unemployment over the period.

These data are from the Current Population Survey and are seasonally adjusted. For more information, see "The Employment Situation: August 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-1633.

Note: Hurricane Katrina struck Florida and the Gulf Coast after the August survey reference period, and therefore did not affect August unemployment estimates.

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