January 2008 Employment Situation — 2008-02-01

Both nonfarm payroll employment, at 138.1 million, and the unemployment rate, at 4.9 percent, were essentially unchanged in January, the Bureau of Labor Sta- tistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The small January move- ment in nonfarm payroll employment (-17,000) reflected declines in construction and manufacturing and job growth in health care. Average hourly earnings rose by 4 cents, or 0.2 percent, over the month. The number of unemployed persons (7.6 million) and the unemployment rate (4.9 percent) were essentially unchanged in January. Over the month, the unem- ployment rates for all major worker groups--adult men (4.4 percent), adult women (4.2 percent), teenagers (18.0 percent), whites (4.4 percent), blacks (9.2 per- cent), and Hispanics (6.3 percent)--showed little or no change. The unemployment rate for Asians was 3.2 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.) Total employment and the employment-population ratio edged up in January after accounting for the annual adjustment to the population controls.