The Employment Situation: January 2002 — 2002-02-01

Employment continued to decline in January, and the unemployment rate decreased to 5.6 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Nonfarm payroll employment declined by 89,000 over the month, as job losses continued in manufacturing and construction employment also fell. The number of unemployed persons declined in January by 337,000, to 7.9 million (after seasonal adjustment). The unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage point to 5.6 percent, reversing an increase of the same size in December. The rate was 1.7 percentage points above its most recent low of 3.9 percent reached in October 2000. (See table A-1.) In January, the unemployment rate for adult women decreased by 0.4 percent- age point to 4.8 percent after rising by 0.3 percentage point in December. Jobless rates for adult men (5.2 percent), teenagers (16.1 percent), whites (5.0 percent), blacks (9.8 percent), and Hispanics (8.1 percent) showed little or no change.