The Employment Situation: January 2007 — 2007-02-02

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 111,000 in January, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 4.6 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Job growth continued in sev- eral service-providing industries over the month, and construction employment also rose. The number of manufacturing jobs continued to decline. The number of unemployed persons (7.0 million) and the unemployment rate (4.6 percent) were about unchanged in January. Over the month, the unemploy- ment rate for Hispanics (5.7 percent) increased, while the rates for the other major worker groups--adult men (4.1 percent), adult women (4.0 percent), teen- agers (15.0 percent), whites (4.1 percent), and blacks (8.0 percent)--were little changed. The unemployment rate for Asians was 3.2 percent, not season- ally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.) In January, both total employment (146.0 million) and the employment-popu- lation ratio (63.3 percent) were essentially unchanged.