The Employment Situation: October 1998 — 1998-11-05

Payroll employment grew modestly, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.6 percent in October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The number of payroll jobs was up by 116,000, following a rise of 157,000 in September (as revised). Growth in services and most other industries in October was partly offset by a large decline in manufacturing. The increase in average hourly earnings was small for the second month in a row. The number of unemployed persons, 6.3 million in October, was unchanged over the month. The unemployment rate remained at 4.6 percent; it has been at or below 5.0 percent since April 1997. Among the major worker groups, the jobless rates for adult men (3.7 percent), adult women (4.0 percent), teenagers (16.0 percent), whites (4.0 percent), blacks (8.6 percent), and Hispanics (7.2 percent) showed little or no change in October.