April 26, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Families experiencing unemployment in 2000

Of the nation's 71.7 million families, 5.7 percent reported having an unemployed member in an average week in 2000, a decline of 0.3 percentage point from the previous year.

Families with unemployed member(s), 1999-2000
[Chart data—TXT]

The proportion of black families with an unemployed member in 2000 (10.2 percent) was higher than the proportion for either Hispanic (9.0 percent) or white families (5.0 percent). Hispanic families had the largest drop in unemployment between 1999 and 2000, from 9.7 percent to 9.0 percent.

These data on unemployment are from the Current Population Survey. Find out more in "Employment characteristics of families in 2000," news release USDL 01-103.