February 04, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment down in January

The unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage point to 5.6 percent in January. This decrease followed an increase of the same size in December.

Unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, January 1999-January 2002
[Chart data—TXT]

In January, the unemployment rate for adult women decreased by 0.4 percentage point to 4.8 percent after rising by 0.3 percentage point in December. Jobless rates for adult men (5.2 percent), teenagers (16.1 percent), whites (5.0 percent), blacks (9.8 percent), and Hispanics (8.1 percent) showed little or no change.

The number of unemployed persons declined in January by 337,000, to 7.9 million (after seasonal adjustment).

These data are products of the Current Population Survey (CPS). For more information, see The Employment Situation: January 2002, news release USDL. 02-47.