September 09, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment about unchanged in August

Both the number of unemployed persons (8.9 million) and the unemployment rate (6.1 percent) were essentially unchanged in August.

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

Unemployment rates for the major worker groups—adult men (5.8 percent), adult women (5.2 percent), teenagers (16.6 percent), whites (5.4 percent), blacks (10.9 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (7.8 percent)—showed little or no change in August. The unemployment rate for Asians was 5.9 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

In August, 1.9 million persons had been unemployed for 27 weeks or more. They represented 21.8 percent of all unemployed persons, about the same as in July.

These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information on current unemployment, see "The Employment Situation: August 2003" (PDF) (TXT), USDL 03-467.

 

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