The Employment Situation: August 2004 — 2004-09-03

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 144,000 in August, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 5.4 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Over the month, job growth occurred in several service-providing industries. Both the number of unemployed persons, 8.0 million, and the unemployment rate, 5.4 percent, were little changed from July to August. The jobless rate is down from its recent high of 6.3 percent in June 2003; most of this decline occurred in the second half of last year. In August, the unemployment rates for the major worker groups--adult men (5.0 percent), adult women (4.7 percent), teenagers (17.0 percent), whites (4.7 percent), blacks (10.4 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (6.9 percent)--showed little change over the month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 3.6 percent in August, not seasonally adjusted.