March 28, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment level declined for 8th consecutive year

The number of unemployed persons declined for the eighth consecutive year in 2000.

Number of unemployed persons in the fourth quarter, seasonally adjusted, 1990-2000 (thousands)
[Chart data—TXT]

The unemployment level averaged 5.6 million persons in the fourth quarter of 2000, down from 5.7 million in the fourth quarter of 1999. The level of unemployment in 2000 was 41 percent below the peak level of the past decade—9.5 million in 1992.

These data are a product of the Current Population Survey. The above figures are seasonally adjusted. Find out more about unemployment in 2000 in "The job market in 2000: slowing down as the year ended," by Jennifer L. Martel and David S. Langdon, Monthly Labor Review, February 2001.