The Employment Situation: September 1998 — 1998-10-02

Payroll employment rose slightly, and unemployment was virtually unchanged at 4.6 percent in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Nonfarm payroll employment was up by only 69,000. The number of manufacturing and construction jobs declined, and growth in the services industry was weak for the second month in a row. Both the number of unemployed persons, 6.3 million, and the unemployment rate, 4.6 percent, remained essentially unchanged in September. The jobless rate has been at or below 5 percent since April 1997. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.8 percent), adult women (4.0 percent), teenagers (15.4 percent), whites (3.9 percent), blacks (9.2 percent), and Hispanics (7.4 percent) showed little movement in September. (See tables A-1 and A-2.) Total employment rose by 597,000 in September to 131.8 million, after seasonal adjustment.