The Employment Situation: January 2003 — 2003-02-07

Payroll employment rose by 143,000 in January, and the unemployment rate decreased to 5.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Depart- ment of Labor reported today. Employment in retail trade and construction increased after seasonal adjustment, but most other major industries were little changed. The unemployment rate fell to 5.7 percent in January; the number of unemployed persons was 8.3 million. The jobless rates for the major demographic groups were as follows: adult men (5.4 percent), adult women (4.7 percent), teenagers (16.8 percent), whites (5.1 percent), blacks or African Americans (10.3 percent), Asians (5.6 percent, not seasonally adjusted), and Hispanics or Latinos (7.8 percent). (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.) Total employment in January was 137.5 million. The employment-population ratio--the proportion of the population age 16 and older with jobs--was 62.5 percent. The civilian labor force in January was 145.8 million and the labor force participation rate was 66.3 percent.