April 07, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment rate in March 2003

The unemployment rate was unchanged in March, at 5.8 percent (seasonally adjusted); the number of unemployed persons was 8.4 million.

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

The seasonally-adjusted jobless rates for the major worker groups—adult men (5.3 percent), adult women (5.0 percent), teenagers (17.7 percent), whites (5.1 percent), blacks or African Americans (10.2 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (7.5 percent)—showed little or no change in March. The unemployment rate for Asians was 6.5 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

About 1 in 5 unemployed persons had been without a job for 27 weeks or longer.

These data are from the Current Population Survey (CPS). For more information on current unemployment, see "The Employment Situation: March 2003" (PDF) (TXT), USDL 03-157.