October 06, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment rates in September

The number of unemployed persons, 9.0 million, was about unchanged in September, and the unemployment rate was 6.1 percent, the same as in August.

Unemployment rates, September 2003 (seasonally adjusted)
[Chart data—TXT]

Unemployment rates for the major worker groups—adult men (5.7 percent), adult women (5.3 percent), teenagers (17.5 percent), whites (5.3 percent), blacks (11.2 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (7.5 percent)—were little changed in September. The unemployment rate for Asians was 6.2 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

In September, there were 2.1 million unemployed persons who had been looking for work for 27 weeks or longer, representing 23.2 percent of the total unemployed. Since November 2001, the proportion of long-term unemployed has increased by about 9 percentage points.

These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information on current unemployment, see "The Employment Situation: September 2003" (PDF) (TXT), USDL 03-523.