August 2010 Employment Situation — 2010-09-03

Nonfarm payroll employment changed little (-54,000) in August, and the unem- ployment rate was about unchanged at 9.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Government employment fell, as 114,000 temporary workers hired for the decennial census completed their work. Private-sector payroll employment continued to trend up modestly (+67,000). The number of unemployed persons (14.9 million) and the unemployment rate (9.6 percent) were little changed in August. From May through August, the jobless rate remained in the range of 9.5 to 9.7 percent. (See table A-1.) Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for adult men (9.8 per- cent), adult women (8.0 percent), teenagers (26.3 percent), whites (8.7 per- cent), blacks (16.3 percent), and Hispanics (12.0 percent) showed little change in August. The jobless rate for Asians was 7.2 percent, not season- ally adjusted.