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.

Of interest

Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month

In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections. . Read more »