March 11, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment in February 2003

The unemployment rate was little changed in February, at 5.8 percent (seasonally adjusted); the number of unemployed persons was 8.5 million.

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

The seasonally-adjusted jobless rates for the major worker groups were as follows: adult men (5.3 percent), adult women (5.0 percent), teenagers (17.1 percent), whites (5.0 percent), blacks or African Americans (10.5 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (7.7 percent).

The unemployment rate for Asians was 6.0 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

These data are from the Current Population Survey (CPS). For more information on current unemployment, see "The Employment Situation: February 2003" (PDF) (TXT), USDL 03-99.