The Employment Situation: February 1994 — 1994-03-04

Nonfarm payroll employment rose in February, and the nation's unemployment rate was 6.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The jobless rate had been 6.7 percent in January, the first month that household survey data were collected using a revised questionnaire and new collection procedures. The February increase in payroll employment--217,000--came on the heels of flat, weather-impacted employment in January. Unusually severe winter weather affected the job situation in February as well and also caused a particularly large drop in the workweek. The unemployment rate was 6.5 percent in February; it had been 6.7 percent in January. The number of unemployed persons was 8.5 million in February. (See table A-1.) The number in the newly jobless category--those unemployed for less than 5 weeks--showed a drop of nearly 800,000 in February to a level of 2.6 million, while the number unemployed from 5 to 14 weeks rose by nearly 400,000.